Marianne Merten
Police investigators probing People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) have quietly arrested at least six members of the group in the past 10 days without the usual “breakthrough” headlines that backfired on detectives in the past.
This comes as Cape Town courts refuse bail to those facing charges ranging from possessing pipebombs and stolen cars to murder.
In the most recent arrest this week, the teenage brother of Abdul Maansdorp was bust in connection with the April shooting of Americans gang boss Adielah “Mama America” Davids, her daughter Ferosa and another woman.
The teenager will go on trial with his brother and alleged Pagad hitman Ebrahim Jenneker. The men will apply for bail later this month. Detectives are still looking for a fourth suspect. It is understood further charges are being investigated against the Maansdorp brothers.
Last week Pagad member Moegamat Issacs was arrested for a drive-by shooting in Hanover Park on the Cape Flats. Two people died and at least 20 were injured when gunmen opened fire on a group, including members of the Americans gang, on June 12.
The attack was part of a series of tit-for- tat killings in the ongoing violence between gangsters and anti-drug vigilantes on the Cape Flats.
Issacs is the son-in-law of Abdul Heuwel, the alleged leader of Pagad’s armed wing, the G-Force, in Mitchells Plain. His son, Moegamat Rezza Heuwel (17), was killed by two Americans members last month.
Issacs had been out on bail. He was one of six Pagad members arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms after a high-speed chase down Cape Town’s Eastern Boulevard in February. The arrests happened days after a pipebomb exploded outside the central Cape Town police station, injuring a dozen passersby.
The home of another Pagad member, Afzal Karriem, was searched and he was questioned in connection with the death of Pagad investigator Bennie Lategan, killed in a drive-by shooting in January. Karriem is on bail after he was arrested in February with four others near Oudtshoorn for illegally possessing fireams and two detonators.
Six Pagad members have been denied bail by the Cape courts recently. In all cases, the magistrates and judge cited as key factors in their decisions the protection of the community and the perception that members of Pagad could be linked to the bombings.