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Tuesday 29 March 2011
Petrolbombing in Rondebosch East
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In their element
Pagad blamed for damaging house of man accused of being a drug dealer TAMMY PETERSEN
A RONDEBOSCH EAST family’s house was petrol-bombed in the early hours of Monday 21 March – allegedly by members of Pagad. The incident came four days after a 60-strong group from the antidrug “movement” issued a warning to the mother of a man accused of running a tik-manufacturing business from their Heatherly Road house. The group allegedly threatened to “do things to him if he didn’t stop”. The young man’s mother, who does not want to be named to protect her privacy, says she was on the phone shortly after midnight when her 15-year-old daughter ran into the lounge and told her she had heard an explosion outside. “I went to the side of the house where the noise had come from and found a broken bottle with flames licking at one of our cars. As I ran to put water into a bucket to douse the flames, I saw a white Honda Civic speed off,” she recalls. But this was not the first time she had seen the car, the woman says. On Wednesday 16 March, a group of Pagad members in full Muslim attire had gathered outside her house. “I thought something had happened and as I stood outside my front door, I noticed that the men were saying their prayers and had covered their faces with scarves. When they were done, they came to my door and surrounded the property. I had no idea what was going on.” The leader of the group, whose face was also covered, approached her at her gate and accused her of allowing her son, who sells groceries from his home and is a partner
in a car parts business, to peddle drugs from their home. “I vehemently denied this because I know there is no truth to this nonsense. But he insisted that my son was a merchant and that he was making tik inside our house.” She heard a pounding noise coming from the side of her house and when she went to investigate, she saw a man throwing bricks at one of her son’s cars. “I started screaming at him and he jumped into a car that was parked at the side of the road.” Once the man was inside, the white Honda Civic sped off. “The man was with the Pagad people. No one stopped him from damaging my property and they simply ignored what had happened. I made it clear to them that if they could prove that we were involved in anything illegal, they could have us charged. I even invited them in to look around for themselves, but they refused. They left after that.” After dousing the flames and while she waited for the police to arrive, she says she again saw the white car slowly driving past her house. The next day her son visited a Kenwyn Pagad member to question the attack, and was allegedly threatened by Pagad members. “They told him that if he ever visited a member’s house again, they would bomb our home. How can our safety be threatened like this? “I believe that the people in the white car are involved with Pagad and are behind the attack on my house. They are victimising people without concrete evidence and using gangster-like tactics to bully people into submission. I refuse to allow anyone to make me feel like a criminal or to harass me and my children. I will never stand for it.”
ALL THAT JAZZ! Jazz lovers were treated to some of the biggest names in its genre last weekend when the 12th Cape Town International Jazz Festival rolled into town. The Cape Town International Convention Centre was filled with music lovers who were treated to the sounds of more than 30 local and international artists. Seen here, Earth, Wind and Fire entertain the masses. Their festival performance formed part of their 40th Anniversary World Tour. Photo: Nasief Manie The woman also claims that a month prior to the attack, Hanif Loonat, the Nyanga Cluster Community Police Forum chairperson, visited her house and warned her that she is on a “Pagad list for dealing in drugs”. “He called it a friendly warning and asked me not to tell anyone that he had been there. What is he trying to do? Isn’t he supposed to be on the side of the law, which states that people cannot make wild accusations and take the law into their own hands?” But Loonat said the woman was trying to “shift the blame”. “She must take responsibility for what is happening in her house. I warned her of the list after I was told by people that her address was on it. I only told her to talk to her son so that he would stop what he is doing.” When asked what evidence he had that the man was dealing in drugs, he said that the man “admitted to a lot of people that he did”. Loonat denies being a member of
Pagad but agrees that drugs need to be removed from society. “I have always been against Pagad and their modus operandi. However, the community wants them so I am willing to liaise with them as long as they work within the boundary of the law.” He says he was called to the house in Kenwyn when the man approached the Pagad member. “The Pagad member thought that I had sent the man there but I knew nothing of it. The man was so arrogant and disrespectful with Pagad that I had to stop them from hurting him. He had the cheek to thank them for allowing him to waste their time. He’s lucky he wasn’t killed.” Osman Sahib, an executive member of Pagad, declined to comment on the bombing incident, but says that at the meeting at the Pagad member’s house, they warned the young man to “stop selling drugs to the people”. Warrant Officer Robert Lakey, spokesperson for Lansdowne police, says a case of malicious da-
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mage to property is being investigated. Community Safety MEC, Albert Fritz, says he supports any formations that try to make a difference in terms of safety and security but only if this is done within the boundaries of the law. “I have told them before that I am willing to work with them because I understand people’s frustration with the police’s service delivery. However, they have been warned that if it is ever found that they have broken any laws, the authorities will be forced to act against them.” JP Smith, the City of Cape Town’s Mayco Member for Safety and Security, says that the organisation is a part of the community, “whether we like it or not”. “It doesn’t help to ignore them and I would prefer to try make them part of a solution, not a problem. However, they will lose that support if they don’t cooperate within legal practices by being involved in misbehaviour or vigilantism.”
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