27 Jun 2007: ISS Today: Return of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) in the Western Cape?

27 Jun 2007: Return of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) in the Western Cape?

 

Last week the Western Cape witnessed a number of incidents that led to speculation that PAGAD might be making a return to the region. On 18 June some 300 community members took to the streets and targeted eight suspected drug outlets in Mitchell’s Plain. The following day, an estimated 2,000 members of the community gathered at a local mosque, in anger at allegations that Tik dealers had attacked a mosque in Beacon Valley. They marched to the luxury double-storey house of a suspected Tik dealer and set the residence on fire. The angry crowd also overturned a vehicle before police dispersed them using stun grenades and rubber bullets.1 

 

Police reacted by arresting fifteen residents from Mitchell’s Plain on public violence charges and descended on two mosques, at Lentegeur and on AZ Berman Drive. Though noting that the police have a responsibility to maintain law and order, members of the local community felt that the state had reacted against their actions allowing more serious offences to go unpunished.  Comments such as: “They come here now to control us, but they let the drug dealers and crime lords run free. They`re bastards! This is a corrupt state”2 reflected this sentiment.

 

Despite statements from recognised PAGAD members that the organisation is not responsible for current developments, the common conclusion was that, one way or another, PAGAD must be behind the attacks on drug dealers and suspected shebeen owners. The organisation’s early history, and the chanting of the phrase “We want a drug-free, gangster-free society” and “kill the merchants”3 brought back a lot of memories.

 

If we are to understand current developments, it is essential to place these recent events in context. PAGAD’s success as a pressure group and later a vigilante group is attributable to its ability to draw strength from a growing community perception that the government and the police were unable, or even unwilling, to deal with the growing problem with narcotics and gangs in the Western Cape -- particularly on the Cape Flats. Even with the arrest and prosecution of suspected PAGAD members since 2000, numerous calls were heard at a community level calling for the return of PAGAD, as this was seen as the only force that managed effectively to deal with drug dealers and high-profile gang members. Emotions flared especially in reaction to drive-by shootings between opposing gangs, during which children found themselves in the crossfire. In other words, government addressed the symptoms and not the underlying reasons for the initial success of PAGAD. Subsequently, with the introduction of Tik, community voices became louder and even resulted in two attacks in which individuals possibly aligned with PAGAD were suspected. On 14 May 2005 a pipe bomb was thrown at the residence of an alleged drug dealer. According to the owner, PAGAD had bombed the residence three times before. It is not clear whether individuals associated with PAGAD were responsible for this incident, as competing drug dealers might also have been involved. On 17 October 2005, a group of some 150 men gathered at a mosque in Pluto Street, Surrey Estate on the Cape Flats, and marched through the streets in search of a Tanzanian man suspected of dealing in drugs. This coincided, during the same weekend, with an attack on a house in Surrey Estate, from which resident Tanzanian families were evicted, allegedly for dealing in drugs. During the same period a vigilante group trashed the homes of two Tanzanian families in Manenberg.4 These developments, although not directly linked to PAGAD, raised levels of concern about the possibility of a resurgence of PAGAD-style attacks on drug-lords.

 

Of course, the state cannot allow community members to take matters into their own hands, introducing another threat to the relationship between ordinary citizens and the police. But if the police are perceived to be targeting community-based organisations, they will lose a valuable source of information needed in dealing with crime: community support acting as the ears and eyes on the ground will be lost. Recent public slogans reinforce the impression that this is already the case: “Away with the police. They are any case only warning the tik-bosses”. Questions have been raised about the failure of the police to act on information provided by community members. Understandably, the police cannot act on tip-offs alone since a case need to be built that will be able to secure conviction in a court of law. However, community members complain that police are either corrupt or simply not interested in dealing with drug dealers. All of this has combined to create an extremely emotional and volatile situation in a number of communities.

 

What lessons and suggestions can we draw from these developments:

 

• It was to be expected that PAGAD-related activities would again surface, because the state focussed its attention on only a short-term solution during the 1990s, without addressing the underlying causes. What is currently happening in the Western Cape did not develop overnight, and government should, therefore, adopt a pro-active strategy -- through listening to local concerns, instead of waiting again too long, in a re-active approach to crime.
  
  
  
• Relations between the state and community members in the affected areas are clearly at a crossroads. It is hoped that instead of targeting ‘suspected PAGAD members’ police will initiate a campaign of dialogue, followed by concrete action against suspected drug dealers.
  
  
  
• Despite similarities with the early development of PAGAD, it would be a grave mistake simply to dismiss current developments as a re-emergence of PAGAD as an organisation. A focus by government and security forces on PAGAD as a the principal threat, instead of a holistic strategy, will only drive a further wedge between the state and ordinary citizens. At the heart of current developments is a growing frustration that nothing is being done to address crime, the burgeoning narcotics trade, and gangs in the Western Cape.
  
  
• Community based organisations, which have a valuable role to play, should also guard against becoming part of the problem, despite a growing urgency on the part of ordinary citizens to protect themselves against what they see as a social and criminal onslaught.
  
  
  
• In not addressing the underlying circumstances, thereby fuelling vigilantism, ordinary law-abiding citizens will become more and more involved in criminality themselves, by taking matters into their own hands. This will ultimately allow individuals with ulterior motives to gain a foothold, as witnessed in PAGAD’s later history.

Anneli Botha, ISS Tshwane, Pretoria

 

1. Marius Louw, “‘Tik dealer’s’ home torched”, Die Burger, 20 June 2007.
   
   
2. Murray Williams, Candice Bailey and Natasha Prince, `It looked like a war zone` Cape Argus, 21 July 2007, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20070621115744564C312340
   
   
3. Candice Bailey and Natasha Prince, ‘Fifteen held in vigilante mayhem’, Cape Argus, 20 June 2007, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20070620112935650C451750
   
   
   
4. Johan Schronen and Norman Joseph, “’Pagad-style attacks` target alleged dealers”, Cape Argus, 18 October 2005, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20051018102132692C584570