Mark Shaw's latest book looks into at how Pagad, which began as a community protest against crime, mutated into a sinister vigilante group.
Mark Shaw, the director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, is the author of Hitmen for Hire and Give Us More Guns, both investigations into crime in South Africa. His new book, Breaking the Bombers: How the Hunt for Pagad Created a Crack Police Unit , looks at how Pagad, which began as a community protest against crime, mutated into a sinister vigilante group. When bombings started hitting Cape Town in 1996, the police struggled desperately to respond.
The bombing threat in Cape Town ratcheted up from late 1998, after Planet Hollywood was bombed in August that year. The next two years saw bombings of civilian and state targets, with Pagad careful to avoid taking responsibility, instead blaming unnamed provocateurs. Two failed car bombings in 2000, including one at gay bar, The Bronx, highlighted the consequences of state failure. And, in that year, the police had to deal with the threat of a new bombing.
In this extract from Breaking the Bombers, Shaw describes what happened when they heard of a plan to plant a bomb in a flowerpot in Belville.South Africans need to be in the know if we want to create a prosperous future. News24 has kept the country informed for 25 years, and we're about to enter a new chapter of fearless journalism. Join our free subscription trial to unlock this story and a world of news aimed to inform, empower, and inspire.
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