Muhammad Bham | mbham@radioislam.co.za
February 16 2023 | 10:00 pm CAT
4 min read

Photo Credit: Twitter

On Sunday evening, prominent Eldorado Park anti-gang activist Ayob Mungalee, known as the Ultimate Warrior, was murdered in a suspected hit in Eldorado Park.

According to News24, Mungalee, aged 60, the former Gauteng head of the outlawed People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) group, recently mobilised residents to perform raids on the B Section flats.

Following his death, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng said it was “deeply saddened” by the news.

Mungalee was a well-known activist against gangsters and drug lords in the community of Eldorado Park.

Over the last year, gangsterism has just increased tremendously, and several brutal shootings have happened; since the middle of last year until now, more than 100 people have been killed. Many were in brutal shootings, and some were caught in the crossfire between the different gangs.

This is one of the reasons why Mungalee had been a target, and it has come to the fore that there was, in fact, a ‘hit’ list that was sent around on WhatsApp at the end of last year when many strong community leaders names are on this “hit list”.

A case was opened at the Eldorado Park police station with this WhatsApp and the names mentioned in it; Mungalee’s name was also mentioned in it, but until now, there have been no reports about this investigation’s progress.

Crezane Bosch, DA’s Gauteng Shadow MEC for Community Safety, said that now it is too late because Mungalee has now died fatally, but hopefully, by paying attention to this case and asking questions which are there, we will at least be able to highlight the plight of the community in Eldorado Park.

This trend of Gangsterism in Eldorado Park started a couple of years ago, but for some reason, it is not getting the same amount of attention that the Cape Flats would get or even what Soweto would get, she said.

Bosch said that if there are killings in Soweto, then Police Minister Bheki Cele is there, he will have an imbizo in the area, and they will try to allocate additional resources. But somehow, the same is not happening in the areas of Eldorado Park, Westbury and Riverlea, which is extremely sad and disappointing to the DA, and that is why they are trying to highlight the plight of this area.

She said that over the past year, she had seen daily reports from community members in Eldorado Park and Westbury with reports of people being killed, so it seems there has been an increase in gangsterism in this area from about July last year.

Gangsterism is a social and economic problem, and drugs play a significant role. There also seems to be an influence from the Cape Flats area in Eldorado Park.

She said that there are reports that gangsters flying in the morning, killing people there during the day, flying out, leaving Gauteng in the evening, and going back to Cape Town.

This is a cross-provincial border issue where MECs and other role players of the provinces and municipalities should work together to be proper crime intelligence in the area.

The need for proper crime intelligence is there as, at this stage, the portfolio for crime intelligence within the Department of Community Safety in Gauteng is vacant. These are critical positions in the Community Safety and Security Department that should have been filled long ago.

The DA says the government should launch and formalise an official committee of inquiry into gangsterism and the brutal killings in Gauteng, specifically areas like Eldorado Park, Westbury, Riverlea, and Langlaagte—Reiger Park in the Cape and Eersterus in Pretoria. Gangsterism is not secluded to Eldorado Park alone, so the department should prioritise crime intelligence divisions and do a proper investigation, console the communities, speak to the stakeholders and see what is going on.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.