FRIDAY, 1.30PM
MURDERED People Against Gangsterism and Drugs national secretary Sharief Khan was on Thursday proclaimed the vigilante group’s second martyr at his funeral.
Meanwhile, Ebrahim Satardien, the man arrested for Khan’s murder, appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Friday for a bail application. The bail hearing was postponed to Monday and Satardien was remanded in custody.
The bail hearing was postponed to allow prosecutor Faiek Davids to decide whther to oppose the application. Davids told the court that Khan’s funeral on Thursday had prevented him from consulting witnesses to the killing. Such consultations were essential for him to decide whether to allow bail, and merely fix an appropriate amount, or oppose Satardien’s application altogether, he told the court.
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 after becoming involved in an argument with a group of men. According to witnesses quoted by Radio 702, 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.