Cape Town -
About 50 Pagad supporters joined a dozen Parow residents in an anti-drug march yesterday, stopping at the houses of alleged gangsters where they shouted “one gangster, one bullet”, over a loudspeaker.
Parow residents from the anti-crime group Concerned Residents, who organised the march, said they had invited Pagad to join them.
“We hope that today will be the start of a new era,” said Concerned Residents founder Najee Najib at the start of the march in Glenlily.
“This area has become infected with drugs, prostitution and drug dens.”
Three police cars escorted the marchers, who carried placards which read “One Merchant, Two Bullets”, “Justice is Coming” and “Vang die Ding, Hang die Ding (Catch the thing, hang the thing).”
They stopped outside houses of alleged drug dealers, and over loudspeakers warned the occupants to stop dealing drugs.
Residents taking part in the march said tik, dagga and Mandrax were dealt openly on Voortrekker Road.
Sherm Arendse, a member of Concerned Residents, said she had lost faith in the police.
Late last year 11 police officers from Parow were arrested on corruption charges.
Asked afterwards if language used in the march – such as “one gangster, one bullet” – did not incite violence, Pagad spokesman Haroon Orrie said it was the drug dealers who were violent.
The marchers, he said, were well behaved and law-abiding.
Unlike gangsters who used guns, the marchers used only words, he said.
“It’s better than picking up a stone and throwing it,” he said. “It’s better than picking up a gun.”
Sunday Argus