PAGAD

PAGAD members are almost exclusively Muslim and Mr Rasool fears a growing influence from the radical Islamic movement represented by an organisation called Qibla, "direction" in Arabic.

In a 1997 survey in Johannesburg, 66 per cent of respondents were critical of the Government's responses to crime, Spokespersons of opposition parties have gone as far as asking for a state of emergency to be declared, and South African farmers have accused former President Mandela of being afraid to call a referendum on the reinstatement of the death penalty, saying the only solution left to farmers was vigilante action in the style of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) and the withholding of taxes to pay for protection on farms.

Crime syndicates, vigilante groups like People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) and Muslim extremist groups like Muslims Against Oppression also contribute to the proliferation of small arms in South Africa.

A spokesman for anti-crime group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) said Mr Yusuf Jacobs, aged 22, was to be buried late yesterday.

It is an ally of PAGAD and has an anti-U.S., anti-Israel stance.

As far as indigenous groups are concerned, only three in Africa, namely People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), based in South Africa's Western Cape province; the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR); and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone are listed by the US State Department under "other terrorist groups", being inter alia involved in international terrorism.