Gustav Thiel
FOLLOWING bomb blasts at two homes of people linked to People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) in Cape Town this week, observers warned the organisation was creating an environment in which gangs could flourish.
Pagad could end up promoting what it is trying to destroy, warned Don Pinnock, a former University of Cape Town criminologist who has published extensively on gangsterism in the Western Cape.
“The organisation is consolidating gangs in the Western Cape, and is in effect creating alliances among gangsters that would never otherwise have existed,” he said. “This leads to better-organised gangs and consequently to more crime, which is what Pagad set out to fight in the first place.”
He was responding to fears expressed in the city that the exchange of fire between Pagad and gangs on the Cape Flats recently could lead to a full-scale war.
The Muslim Judicial Council warned: “If any child or person is going to be harmed in any way by the drug merchants or their allies, unprecedented anger will be generated in the Muslim community which will be very difficult to control.”
A pregnant woman died and five people were wounded last Sunday in attacks on members of the Muslim community. Two of the attacks were aimed at members of the Gatesville Mosque, where Pagad holds regular meetings. Pagad was blamed for five retaliatory attacks on the homes of alleged drug dealers.
Ganief Hendricks, representative of the Islamic Unity Convention, which has strong ties with Pagad, said: “The chances are very strong that the latest spate of violence could indicate the start of an open war. It must be remembered violence is not part of Islam, but life is sacred and therefore Pagad will have to protect its people.”
He added that elements within Pagad hoped to take over the Western Cape government eventually, and would use force to achieve this.
Pinnock said Pagad is “essentially a political organisation aiming to contest the next elections in 1999. It is forming political alliances, most notably with the Pan Africanist Congress and with Justice Minister Dullah Omar, and could one day become a political force.
“For the moment, however, it is a vigilante group causing a lot of damage to the community it is trying to serve.”
Pinnock said gangs on the Cape Flats are still seen by many as “Robin Hood figures who are there to protect the community. It is wrong to assume gangs are seen as the bad guys.
“The only real solution to the problem of gangsterism in the Western Cape is to raise the general standard of living, which Pagad will not achieve.”