Minister of Police Bheki Cele. Picture: EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA
Mamelodi residents in Tshwane have pleaded with Police Minister Bheki Cele to launch a task team to probe activities of a marauding gang of thugs alleged to have residents under siege through violence, extortion and demanding cuts from tenders and business deals. The gang allegedly collects protection fees from local businesses, big or small, as well as from ordinary people, including recycle material collectors. Residents are so frightened that that the mere mention of the words “Boko Haram”, as the gang is known, is enough to end a conversation as the gang is notorious for brutally silencing those who stand.