/ 9 February 1999

MANDELA ‘UNDERMINED OWN INTEGRITY’

VIGILANTE group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs on Monday accused President Nelson Mandela of undermining his own integrity by accusing Pagad of being involved in urban terror in the Western Cape “without producing any proof”. At a media conference in Crawford to respond to remarks by Mandela in his opening of Parliament speech on Friday, Pagad legal adviser Cassiem Parker said Pagad believes the police and government are anxious to get convictions for the spate of pipe-bomb attacks around Cape Town, and will not be surprised if evidence is planted on Pagad members. A statement by the Pagad national executive said although Mandela did not mention Pagad by name in his speech, “it is clear that he is referring to our organisation”. Pagad entered the national limelight in August 1996, when a mob of its supporters lynched gangster Rashaad Staggie.