Marianne Merten
Appearing in the dock with a black-and-white chequered scarf across his shoulders, and a white scarf and kaffiyeh covering his head, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) leader Abdus-Salaam Ebrahim has taken on all the trappings of a martyr.
Turning to supporters in the public gallery, he raises his hand. A leather Qur’an is always close by and a string of prayer beads is wrapped around his right wrist.
On Thursday, day four of the trial, emergency medic Charles Loughton, who clearly did not like reliving the memories of that night, told the court how he tried to help “the patient” (Rashaad Staggie), lying on the road after being shot in his car.
“I got a gurgled sound from him. I heard the sound of breaking glass between my legs. There were flames.”
With his “rear end on fire”, the medic ran away. “The patient then jumped up, ran around the front of the vehicle … He fell … I grabbed the fire extinguisher and extinguished the flames. He then tried to sit up. I told him to lay still.”
In the public gallery surviving Hard Livings gang boss and surviving twin Rashied Staggie stared down on the accused. Later he said he had forgiven them; he has found God and abandoned his gangster ways.
On Wednesday the judge, lawyers, the shackled accused and the media visited London Road, Woodstock, for an inspection of the crime scene. For Ebrahim and co-accused Salie Abader and Moegsien Mohamed it was a brief chance to hug their children and share a few words with wives and friends.
In the daylight the chaos of that Sunday night on August 4 1996 is hard to imagine. The Staggie house is now painted turquoise; gang graffiti is limited to nearby buildings.
The court had already seen pictures of Staggie’s burnt, still-bleeding corpse lying in the gutter, heard a medical forensic expert detail at least 12 bullet wounds, while two police witnesses told of their fear amid the countless volleys of gunshots.
On Thursday the court also heard that “there were more red lights [ambulances] than blue lights [police]” at the scene. One policeman testified how he and three colleagues tried to hold back scores of Pagad supporters for more than half an hour as Staggie was killed within metres of them.
At the end of each court day, supporters group around a police Nyala, trying to get a glimpse of Ebrahim, Abader and Mohamed before they are taken back to jail.
No one pays attention to Nadthmie Edries, who was ousted from Pagad’s leadership at the end of 1996. Pagad’s charismatic former spiritual adviser, Abdurazak Ebrahim, leaves quietly. Both men are out on bail.
The shouts of “Pagad is the solution” and “We fear no one but Allah” peter out in the almost deserted street. It is a far cry from the nightly marches four years ago, which drew thousands of supporters many masked and armed and inspired fear across Cape Town.
There are two high-profile trials involving senior members of Pagad being heard in the Cape High Court this week.
Pagad’s alleged top hitman Ebrahim Jenneker and two others are on trial on 138 charges, including murder, robbery, hijacking and assault.