Pagad support appeared to be waning this week, though the organisation strongly denies it.
Rehana Rossouw reports
PEOPLE Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) called off a march to drug dealers this week, but the organisation said this was not evidence that it has run out of steam.
Pagad representative Farouk Jaffer said the decision was taken because Pagad did not want a violent confrontation with the police. The movement was young, and its actions so far were just the “tip of the iceberg”.
Faithful members gathered at the Gatesville mosque on Tuesday night, where they received updates on the organisation’s progress while their leaders conducted a press conference.
Jaffer and co-leader Ali “Phantom” Parker, whom police are seeking to question in connection with charges of sedition and murder, poured scorn on the police’s ability to deal with crime and to arrest them.
Jaffer said until the police began arresting drug dealers and gang leaders, Pagad would continue with its “programme”. Last Saturday the organisation cornered a man selling Mandrax in Athlone and poured petrol over him. He managed to escape before being set alight. The man was not arrested.
He said Pagad would continue to visit dealers to “conscientise” the police about them. “We will be witnesses, the police will have to arrest them.”
Jaffer and Parker said they had spent most of last week travelling to other parts of the country in response to calls to launch Pagad elsewhere. They had helped establish the organisation in Kimberley, in Lenasia and Laudium in Gauteng, in Pietersburg and in Paarl in the Western Cape.
About 400 supporters — considerably fewer than at Pagad’s previous gatherings — gathered at the mosque on Tuesday night. The gathering was monitored by a heavy police and army contingent, and it dispersed quietly after being told the march was off.
Parker dismissed police attempts to arrest him and Jaffer, saying his continued freedom was evidence that the “whole police system has collapsed”.
Both men’s homes were raided last week and another Pagad leader, Nadthmie Edries, was arrested and charged with sedition. He was released on R10 000 bail.
Sedition is described in South African law as “gathering together with a group of people with the intention of … subverting the authority of the government”.
A Cape Town newspaper reported that detectives were investigating charges of sedition and murder against Pagad. The public has been asked to assist the police in tracking down Parker and Jaffer. Police warned that Parker was “heavily armed” and should not be approached if spotted.
Yet, since the raid, both Parker and Jaffer have appeared at Pagad gatherings. Parker addressed supporters at a gathering at the Gatesville Mosque last Friday and the two hosted this Tuesday’s press conference.
Armoured vehicles surrounded the mosque before the press conference, but no attempt was made to arrest or question the two Pagad leaders.
Western Cape police spokesman Superintendent John Sterrenberg said reports that police were intent on arresting Parker and Jaffer were incorrect. They were merely “invited” to assist police with their ongoing investigation into the sedition and murder charges.
Sterrenberg said the searches of Jaffer’s and Parker’s homes were conducted within the parameters of the Criminal Procedure Act and the police involved did not have warrants for their arrest.
The two men were not approached during their appearances at the mosque because “it would be extremely insensitive, to say the least, for the police to enter the sanctuary of a place of worship”.
He conceded, though, that a case of sedition would have to be made against more than one person.