Marianne Merten Taxi warlord turned local government candidate, Victor Sam, died this week the way he had lived – by the gun. But his death has left many wondering what hat Sam was wearing when he was gunned down in Crossroads in his car. The controversial taxi boss, township businessman and community figure was brought before the courts on at least 14 occasions over the past seven years. He was charged and acquitted of dozens of counts, including murder and attempted murder. On several occasions charges were withdrawn after witnesses failed to testify. The United Democratic Movement says the killing was politically motivated – a claim rejected by the African National Congress. “We really can’t afford violence in our areas … Any violence will be to the detriment of the ANC,” said Western Cape party secretary general Mcebisi Skwatsha. Members of the taxi industry insist the attack could not have come from among their ranks as the Congress of Democratic Taxi Associations and the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Associations are at peace. “If we find the killer we will take him to the police station and the law must take its course,” promised the Cape Amalgamated Taxi Associations president, Steven Williams. Police say they do not yet know the motive behind the murder, which occured outside the home of Sam’s sister in Crossroads. But, according to local sources, Sam’s death is on everyone’s lips. Political parties and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) have called for calm. The IEC’s Western Cape electoral officer, Courtney Sampson, said the IEC is “deeply con-cerned” about the possible impact on the run-up to the December elections. “When we have a leader in the community, who is killed in this way – and we don’t know the motive as the IEC – it does create difficulties for an election.” In recent weeks there were seve-ral incidents of political intolerance at Phillippi informal settlement, located within 5km of Crossroads. Such violence also wracked the greater Nyanga/Crossroads area ahead of the June 1999 election. Unlike last year when the pre-election violence was investigated by the police’s specially established intra-political violence unit, the burden of bringing Sam’s killers to book now rests with local detectives. At the time of going to press the case had not even been referred to the murder and robbery unit.
@Cape’s ‘agents of change’ Marianne Merten Among the Western Cape African National Congress municipal election candidates, chosen to represent the province’s people, are a former leader of People against Gangsterism and Drugs, a sheikh of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), a former Anglican dean and a previous Cape Town mayor.
The “agents of change”, as they were introduced this week, are among the several hundred candidates selected by the ANC to take on the Democratic Alliance for control of the province. It will be a close race – about 31% of potential Cape Town voters are still undecided, according to a pre-election survey by the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. The ANC’s Stellenbosch mayoral candidate, Faghrie Patel – currently the town’s deputy mayor – resigned from the anti-drug vigilantes in early 1999 to return to politics where he initially made his mark in the mid-1970s. MJC secretary general Sheikh Achmat Sedick has emerged as the ANC candidate for a predominantly Muslim ward on the Cape Flats where another MJC leader, Sheikh Shadied Essau, is in the running for the Democratic Alliance.
Former St George’s Cathedral dean Collin Jones has decided to deliver services instead of sermons. At one stage since leaving the church he had decided to establish a private club to bring together intellectual Capetonians of all hues to exchange ideas. And ex-mayor Frank van der Velde, who in recent years brought water and lights to poverty-stricken areas, said he has returned to local politics to prove it was acceptable to be white in the ANC.