Faizel Felix, a member of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) who has been on the run for eight years was finally arrested on Monday, 14 July 2025. (Photo: Supplied / Hawks) 
Faizel Felix, 52, who faces a charge of the illegal possession of a firearm, is back in custody after previously absconding from court and being on the run for eight years.
On 14 July 2025, Felix was nabbed by the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State team in the Western Cape on a warrant of arrest issued in 2016.
Elaborating on the case, Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said Felix was arrested on 19 August 2015 by the City of Cape Town’s Special Investigating Group for the illegal possession of a firearm. The matter was then referred to the Hawks for further investigation.
“Felix appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court for the illegal possession of a firearm. He was granted bail. He disappeared and never attended court again. His non-attendance led to the court issuing a warrant for his arrest and subsequently his arrest on Monday, 14 July 2025,” she said.
The vigilante group
Research by the Institute for Security Studies, titled “Vigilantism v. The State: A case study of the rise and fall of Pagad, 1996-2000” states that Pagad started as a movement against gangsterism and drugs but led to vigilantes using pipe bombs and firearms.
The report further states that Pagad evolved rapidly into an organisation with a political agenda, purging dissenters, intimidating the Muslim establishment, as well as liberal and feminist Muslims, and attacking police, prosecutors and judges.
One of their most heinous crimes occurred on 4 August 1996, when notorious Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie was publicly lynched and set ablaze with petrol by a Pagad mob outside his house in Salt River.
Read more: The takedown of a terror group destabilising SA’s new democracy
Felix’s first run-in with the law was in 2001 when he was accused of being behind a motorbike explosion in front of the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court.
Days before Felix’s bail application, the main witness, Ashraf Saban, was murdered. He could not be prosecuted because there were no state witnesses left to testify against him and all charges relating to the explosion were withdrawn.
Back then, prosecutor Eunice Grey stated that the firearm used in his murder was the same one used to shoot Ebrahim Gallie, a key witness in the State’s case against Ebrahim Jeneker.
Jeneker, Abdullah Maansdorp and Moegamat Isaacs, former members of Pagad, were released on parole in November 2020 after serving 21 years for six murders in 1999.
Not too late for justice
A former police officer who infiltrated Pagad at the height of its reign of terror spoke to Daily Maverick on condition of anonymity.
A criminologist close to the case also spoke to Daily Maverick on the condition of anonymity. The pair were concerned about the ongoing existence of Pagad in areas such as the gang-ravaged Mitchells Plain.
“Whether it is eight or 20 years, this kind of crime can’t escape accountability because time has lapsed,” said the former officer on the charges against Felix.
Both the criminologist and former officer said Felix must be held to account.
“There is an emergence of vigilante tendencies in the country, because people are frustrated with the police. One must show when you engage in that kind of activity, then you will be held accountable, whether it is after five or 16 years,” the pair said.
The former officer said Pagad appeared to be gaining momentum in Mitchells Plain, stating that it was understandable given the challenges with policing in the area.
According to the SAPS fourth quarter crime statistics of the 2024-2025 financial year, from January 2025 to March 2025 there were 319 murders perpetrated due to vigilantism. The leading provinces were Eastern Cape (70), Gauteng (69) and Western Cape (64).
“There are townships in the Western Cape and other parts of the country where people are turning to vigilantism because they are frustrated with the police. In that sense, Pagad is not exceptional.
“When you have a police service that refuses to do what it must do, which is to deal with crime, then you have that kind of crime,” the former officer said.
He added that when Pagad initially emerged in 1995/96, the counter-argument to vigilantism was that there was a new government and new Constitution and they must have a chance to deal with crime.
“Now fast forward 30 years later, the police have failed. The government has failed dismally in dealing with crime, it has not shown seriousness in dealing with crime.
“You can’t deal with these crimes by appointing commission upon commission of inquiry. Now the ordinary person in Manenberg, Lavender Hill, Gauteng and other parts of the country is sitting there and they are saying, ‘President Cyril Ramaphosa is appointing another commission; we are dying here because of crime, and our children are infected with drugs; no we are going to do our own thing,’” he told Daily Maverick.
Pagad distances itself
In a statement, Pagad national coordinator Haroon Orrie distanced the group from Felix and said calling him a member was a “blatant misrepresentation”.
“We have, since 2015 to the present day, asserted categorically, and very publicly, that a group of former members of Pagad have been expelled from the organisation, due to their contravention of the objects, policies and discipline of Pagad. They have formed a separate splinter group, referring to themselves as the ‘G-Force’. Faizel Felix is a member of this G-Force. He is not a member of Pagad,” said Orrie.
“Pagad has embarked on processes to prohibit this splinter group from using and operating under the name of Pagad. This splinter group has been implicated in a range of illegal activities.”
Felix is scheduled to appear in the Wynberg Regional Court on Thursday, 17 July. DM