I first saw Pagad when I was in primary school, driving through Pietermaritzburg CBD on the backs of bakkies with loudhailers blaring. I did not fully understand what they were about, but I could see the reactions around them, a mix of fear and reverence. On the news, I heard of firebombs, killings, and vigilantism. Over the years, Pagad became almost a whisper in public memory.
Now, they are returning to the streets. Pagad, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, says they are stepping up where the state has failed. Harron Orrie, their national coordinator, told me, "We've been doing it for 30 years. We started in 1996. And we said, there is going to become a serious problem in South Africa with gangsterism, with drug trafficking, with drug use. And today, 30 years later, we see that reality in our lives."
The urgency of their re-emergence is clear. In just two days, six people were shot dead in the Cape Flats. Acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told community members that local police do not yet have the capabilities for intelligence-driven operations to tackle gangs. "There is no proper plan in Cape Town to deal with gang violence in the province," he said.
David Africa, a Cape Town-born author and researcher who worked in crime intelligence to dismantle Pagad, offers a unique perspective on why the group emerged in the 1990s and why it resonates again today. "These communities were established through a process of dislocation. People were removed from their communities of origin, to the Cape Flats, to an area without stable communities. And without stable communities, you have violent communities. And of course, the explosion of the drug trade sustained the violence, because it gave it purpose."
He explains that the conditions Pagad exploited then are resurfacing now. "Pagad inserted itself in the 90s because there was an explosion of violence, and a police that is unrooted, poorly led, bereft of strategy. We are seeing a repeat now." Where the state falters, communities look elsewhere for protection. "Pagad will be seen as protectors in communities, because the state is failing. But vigilantism has never been a sustainable solution," Africa says.
Even so, Pagad frames its work as hope, not just fear. Harron Orrie told me, "We want to empower our communities to stand up against gangsterism and drugs so that we can get rid of that fear factor and reassure them hope that there will always be hope for those who are being oppressed by gangsterism and drugs in all forms of evil."
Thirty years later, the streets of the Cape Flats face the same threats and the same challenges. Gangsterism and drug-related violence continue to claim lives. Pagad’s return raises a question that lingers in the air: Are we witnessing history repeating itself, or is this a warning we failed to learn from?
