THURSDAY, 3.30PM
POLICE on Thursday said Wednesday night’s killing of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs national secretary Sharief Khan was not gang-related. The statement came amid fears that Khan’s murder was the beginning of a war between Cape Flats gangsters and the vigilante movement, in revenge for Pagad’s lynching last year of gangster Rashied Staggie.
Khan, 27, was shot dead outside the York Road mosque in Landsdowne on the Cape Flats afterbecoming involved in an argument with a group of men. According to witnesses quoted by Radio 702m Khan made a move to take out his cellphone during the argument, whereupon he was shot.
Police arrested a man soon afterwards. The alleged killer, Ebrahim Satardien, 32, of Belhar appeared on Thursday in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court. He was not asked to plead and was remanded in custody until a bail hearing scheduled for Friday. Police refused to say where Satardien is being held because of fears for his safety.
Pagad, in a statement on Thursday, said the murder of Khan was a direct result of the constant and active campaign being waged against the movement and its leadership by various agencies and individuals. The vigilante group has threatened revenge if the killing proves to be gang related.
Meanwhile, Northern Province police have once again crossed swords with a vigilante group known as Mapogo-a-Mathamaga, which has called for the disbandment of the Lebowakgomo murder and robbery unit. The unit is currently investigating charges of murder, theft, attempted murder, armed robbery, housebreaking, and assault against members of the vigilante group.
The group’s demand, as well as several threats, was made in a memorandum handed to the unit on Tuesday by members of the vigilante group. “We are appalled and disturbed by the contents of the memorandum,” provincial police spokesman Senior Superintendent Phuti Setati said on Thursday. “The murder and robbery unit in Lebowakgomo is doing a splendid job, and there is no way in which it could be threatened or dismantled, as demanded by the group”, he added.
He said Mapogo-a-Mathamaga had chosen to ignore legal structures, such as the local policing forum, to voice their complaints. “We want to make it very clear to them that no individual, no matter what status or position he or she holds, is above the law. Arrests will be effected on anyone who commits crime, memorandum or no memorandum”, Setati warned.