Criminal accusations tailed Abdul Taliep Boonzaaier, better known as Dulla, much as they did his father, Rashied Staggie, and his uncle Rashaad Staggie.

And now, like the case with his father and his uncle, Boonzaaier is dead — he was murdered on the evening of Saturday, 17 September.

Asked to confirm the killing, Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel André Traut, without naming who was murdered, said: “[Saturday] night at around 21:45 a 34-year-old man was shot and killed in Beatrix Court Manenberg by an unknown suspect in what we believe was a gang related incident.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated by police and the suspect is yet to be apprehended.”

Gang suspicions

Boonzaaier had previously been under investigation for several crimes.

It is understood he had also turned on some associates, detailing certain criminal activities to police investigators.

A few years ago, there were also suspicions of tensions between Boonzaaier and Staggie.

A video that Daily Maverick has seen, apparently taken a short while after Boonzaaier was shot, shows him lying on concrete, blood pooling around his head, seeping out of his right cheek, as residents jostle around, one of them trying to pray over him.

What makes this incident even more macabre is that Boonzaaier was killed in the Cape Town suburb of Manenberg, a stronghold of the Hard Livings gang, which in the 1990s was headed by Staggie (his father) and Staggie’s twin brother Rashaad (his uncle).

Daily Maverick understands there are fears that Boonzaaier’s shooting will spark more violence in Manenberg where, earlier this year, 10 people were killed in a week.

Members of the Staggie family have been the focus of police officers for decades. In the 1990s Staggie was under investigation along with several other underworld suspects, for various reasons, including to discover whether they were working with rogue cops also involved with nightclub security.

Such suspicions — of corrupt cops partnering with individuals linked to private security — persist.

Gunned down and set alight

Meanwhile, Rashaad’s life ended in August 1996 when an anti-gangsterism and drugs march in the Cape Town suburb of Salt River turned violent, with individuals targeting him — Rashaad was shot and set alight.

Six years after his brother was murdered, in 2003, Staggie was sentenced to about 15 years in jail relating to the rape and kidnapping of a woman — a police informant.

On 13 December 2019, by then out of jail, Staggie was shot dead in the Cape Town suburb of Salt River — in the very same street the mob had murdered Rashaad 23 years earlier.

At the time rumours did the rounds that Boonzaaier had also been killed.

Drug possession, extortion, tow trucks

Boonzaaier had a long history of brushing up against the law.

It was reported that in 2014 Boonzaaier pleaded guilty to tik possession and was fined R1,000.

The following year Boonzaaier, in another case, was acquitted of illegal drug possession and defeating the ends of justice. That same year, 2015, the Weekend Argus publication reported that during a court case an investigating officer had alleged Boonzaaier was a Hard Livings gangster:

“Investigating officer Umir Salie on Friday told the court that Boonzaaier was a known member of the Hard Livings gang who had four red stars tattooed on each of his shoulders and the letters H and L on his wrists.

“The stars indicated that he held the rank of captain within the gang and had the power to give orders to lower-ranking members.”

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In February this year, a local tabloid also reported that Boonzaaier was a Fancy Boys gang member and had been arrested for allegedly trying to extort R15,000 from a tow truck driver.

Daily Maverick understands that his father, in the weeks leading up to his 2019 murder, was also linked to friction in the tow truck industry.

It was suspected Staggie had a fallout with another underworld figure at a tow truck yard in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Boonzaaier’s Facebook page suggests he was associated with gangs.

Some of his posts refer to others who appear to have been killed, including his father, and some feature the British flag, which is associated with the Hard Livings. 

One of the posts depicting the British flag says: “FOREVER IS A LIFE TIME.” [sic] DM