Marianne Merten
A National Intelligence Agency informer who infiltrated the top ranks of People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) is implicated in several attacks on the Cape Peninsula over the past two years.
Martin Manuel, who changed his name to Mansoor after converting to Islam, is expected to be the state’s star witness at the trial of Pagad member Imam Moegsien Barendse and three others.
Barendse was arrested in May for the second time in connection with illegally possessing two pipe bombs. The explosive devices were allegedly thrown over the fence of his property into his sister’s adjoining yard during a police raid in September last year following the blast at the Planet Hollywood diner which left two people dead and at least 25 injured.
Although Barendse was detained at the time, he was later released. At present he and his co-accused are awaiting trial in Pollsmoor Prison.
At Barendse’s bail hearing at the Wynberg Regional Court, investigating detective De Vries Vermeulen told the court a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) informer had only come forward in May to give Pagad investigators a full statement implicating Barendse and others.
He said the informer, whom he did not name in court, would testify how Barendse and his religious student, Riedewaan Hendricks, had manufactured pipe bombs at Barendse’s Grassy Park home.
Manuel joined Pagad two years ago. He told Barendse he wanted to convert to Islam. Over an extended period of time he gained access to the top level of the anti-drug vigilantes and free access to the imam’s home.
Manuel is a former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) explosives expert and had access to military-type explosives. SANDF records show he served in the Cape Corps and is currently in the non-active reserves.
At one stage, it is alleged, Manuel offered dynamite to Barendse, but was turned down.
Sources say Manuel boasted among Pagad members that he bombed the Wynberg synagogue in December last year – an attack blamed on the anti-drug vigilantes despite repeated claims that they did not know about it.
The NIA and police intelligence services have been accused of using unorthodox methods to infiltrate the anti-drug vigilantes without co-ordinating efforts between them.
After the killing of ousted Pagad founder member Farouk Jaffer in July, it emerged he had been working with police intelligence services for several years.
In February former Pagad Gauteng co- ordinator Ayoub Mungalee told the Oudtshoorn Regional Court he was an NIA informer. After his arrest with four other Pagad members in the Klein Karoo in connection with illegal weapons and detonators, he told the court he had transported explosives. His NIA handler denied knowledge of this.
In late 1997, another informer in the top ranks of Pagad was exposed by Western Cape detectives after a hand grenade sting had gone wrong. Rushdien Abrahams, alias Abu Jihad, was identified as having accepted a dud hand grenade from intelligence operators. A grenade from the same batch was used in an attack on an Athlone home in which a pregnant woman was killed.
On the eve of Barendse’s arrest in May, Manuel disappeared from his previous residence in Mitchells Plain. Pagad members allegedly tried to track Manuel down, unaware that he was an informant. When they checked mail at his last known address, they discovered he was using several different names.