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Pagad eyes P Eastridge MELISSA PAPIER
AGAD plans to set up camp in Eastridge after a call for assistance resulted in a 300 strong crowd taking to the streets in support of the group’s anti-drug campaign.
The crowd marched down Figaro and Buffalo streets on Sunday carrying posters reading “Save our children” and “Stop the drugs”. But the strong police presence was slammed by Pagad, who claim that about 20 police vans were deployed to monitor proceedings. Pagad spokesperson, Osman Shahib, says it’s “sad” that instead of focusing on criminals, police vehicles were monitoring the movements of the organisation. “It’s also shocking that so much effort is made to curb Pagad, yet they can’t sort out the drug dealers in Eastridge,” he says. But Captain Mugelaine van der Vent, the spokesperson for Mitchell’s Plain police, counters that regular patrols have resulted in a number of arrests. She continues that six vans from the police’s Tactical Response Team were on the scene and sector policing vehicles were not part of the convoy. Michael Jacobs, the Mitchell’s Plain Community Police Forum cluster chairperson, says that the Illegal Gatherings Act dictates that for any legal protest action to take place “the police has an obligation to ensure that participants and the community are protected”. “The CPF respects the right of any organisation who wants to hold peaceful protests,” Jacobs says. Shahib says the organisation was contacted by representatives from a local church which appealed to the movement to assist in ending the local drug trade. “It took a year to get permission to hold a legal march across the greater Cape Town area. Each
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UNITED: Scores of residents and members of Pagad gathered at the corner of Buffalo and Figaro streets in Eastridge on Sunday before marching to highlight the area’s drug problem. Photo: Lester Fielies time we applied we were denied. If the police can show us what they did in the area for the last year and the reason we were denied, we would be satisfied. “However, things in the community has gone from bad to worse. Eastridge is plagued with drugs and gangs and its sad that our young girls are selling their bodies for a fix of tik,” he claims. He asserts that politicians’ promises of removing drug dealers from council homes have also not materialised. Ward councillor Solomon Philander, who was also at the march, declined to comment on how many of the City of Cape Town’s tenants were under investigation for using council rental units for
illegal activities. Shahib invites residents to a public meeting, to be held tonight at the Beacon Valley Mosque in Lords Road at 20:00. “We want to establish branches in the area and also a counselling structure for those who suffer from drug addiction and their families who are affected by it. We as an organisation genuinely want to make a difference in the community,” he says. A resident, who asks not to be named, agrees that drug dealing on local streets has increased in recent years. “I see people loitering on the street corners every day. They sell drugs and when the police vans are around they discard it. Something needs to
be done about the situation as it’s getting out of hand. “The community is desperate to get rid of the drug dealers and feel that Pagad would be able to make a difference,” she says. Eastridge CPF subforum chairperson, Cecilia Africa, says she was not present at the march and that the forum has no dealings with the organisation. She declined to comment further.
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