(FXI/IFEX) – On 9 December 1997, police arrested the national secretary of the anti-crime group, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), Abeedah Roberts, for allegedly being in possession of a “top secret” intelligence report. The police swooped on her home in Cape Town in a pre-dawn raid and in terms of the warrant were in […]
(FXI/IFEX) – On 9 December 1997, police arrested the national
secretary of the anti-crime group, People Against Gangsterism and
Drugs (PAGAD), Abeedah Roberts, for allegedly being in possession
of a “top secret” intelligence report. The police swooped on her
home in Cape Town in a pre-dawn raid and in terms of the warrant
were in search of guns, explosives and ammunition. Instead, they
stumbled across the intelligence report on the activities of the
anti-crime group. The document forms the minutes of a Cabinet
committee meeting on intelligence and security chaired by
President Nelson Mandela in August 1996, at which the government
discussed the rise of PAGAD and its possible links to militant
international Islamic organisations. The document caused a stir
last year when it was leaked and details of it were published in
several newspapers.
Roberts was arrested and charged in terms of the 1982 Internal
Security Act – which makes it an offence to be in possession of
secret state documents. She was released on bail of R3 000 on 12
December.
