Dual legacies – Peter Jaggers’ death sparks divided opinions on gangsterism in Cape Town

Among reams of condolence messages posted for him online is one that says he has a loving heart which will always be remembered.

Accompanying another tenderly worded post is a photograph of Peter Jaggers – he’s smiling broadly and clutching, with both hands, what appears to be a long black firearm.

The messages and the image point to two of the contrasting takes on the suspected Cape Town gang boss found murdered in a Free State river last week along with his associate, William Petersen.

See messages on TikTok here.

And it reiterates dual and overlapping realities, especially in South Africa’s gangsterism capital, the Western Cape, where Jaggers and Petersen are from.

Murder and kidnapping investigations

Last week, Daily Maverick reported how their bodies were found bound in a Free State river after they went missing about three months earlier, in July.

There were suspicions that the two were linked to a major cocaine consignment that was meant to be collected from Colombian traffickers off Cape Town’s coast earlier this year.

Read more: ‘Colombian cocaine kidnapping’ — how two bound and cuffed Cape Town men were found killed in Free State

But, the suspicions continued, they had somehow peeved off the Colombian traffickers who retaliated and kidnapped them in Gauteng.

Police previously said a kidnapping case had been opened, and subsequently confirmed the murders.

What happened in between those cases being registered is unclear.

Read more: Suspected 28s gang and cocaine ties to kidnapping case among SA’s latest abduction developments

Police sources are of the view that Jaggers was a drug trafficking thug, and a menacing leader of the Terrible Josters, which is linked to the 28s gang.

Despite this stance, which Jaggers himself seemed to perpetuate (he had the words “international crook” tattooed across his back), there are several who supported and appreciated him.

Those sentiments have become pronounced through his death.

(Photo: Facebook)

Capitalising on failure

Crooks identify where the state fails – and capitalise on that.

And it is not just about bolstering themselves through enlisting corrupt government officials. They can step in and provide residents with “opportunities”, as well as meals and even protection. (Stories in organised crime circles go along the lines of gang bosses retrieving stolen items from thieves and returning them to the owners who live nearby.) 

Words such as “empower”, “liberate” and “community upliftment” surface in these quarters.

The ugly and dangerous irony, of course, is that those thugs appearing to do good are exploiting people.

Read more: Gangsters as people’s champions

A handout here and there, while their networks pump out drugs and bullets that often find their way back to those they purport to support.

In the case of Jaggers, following his murder he has been referenced across social media platforms, notably Facebook and TikTok.

While users on those platforms have not outright denied his involvement in crime, they have shared that their thoughts are with his family, they were honoured to have known him, they will miss him, and that they hope he is now resting peacefully.

Only a few individuals pointed out that the messages supporting Jaggers could be viewed as glorifying gangsterism.

Matters related to him branch out further than sheer criminal suspicions, as they inevitably would, because different people experienced different versions of him.

In 2019, it was reported that Jaggers started a minstrel group, the Exquisite Golden Gate Entertainers, based in Netreg. 

(Two years before that, in 2017, Russel Jacobs, who was well known as the head of another Cape Town minstrel group, was murdered in a separate case, while facing a string of perlemoen smuggling and organised crime-related charges.)

Golden Gate

A private Golden Gate group on Facebook said: “The mission of the troop is to empower the youth and establish the community of Golden Gate known as Netreg.”

Netreg is on the Cape Flats, historically poorer suburbs where “non-white” residents were forced to live under apartheid’s Group Areas Act.

Parts of those suburbs have been gang strongholds for decades because some of the forcibly displaced residents tried to find acceptance and belonging – in criminal groups. 

The past adds other layers of texture to gangsterism, including that some gangsters worked for apartheid agents, while others sided with those against the regime.

Politics is a factor shaping this arena.

See messages on the Golden Gate Facebook page here.

Back to Netreg.

On 16 October, five days after the bodies of Jaggers and Petersen were found, a message was posted on Facebook on behalf of the Exquisite Golden Gate Entertainers. It said: “We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Mrs Jaggers and the beautiful daughters and the rest of the Jaggers family that was left behind  !

“You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.

“DEATH leaves a heartache no one can heal… LOVE leaves a memory no one can steal

“You may be gone, but your memory will live on through the love and laughter you shared with us

“Rest in peace Peter Jagger[s].”

There were about 50 responses to the post, many reiterating that it was hoped he would “rest in peace” and one saying may “God forgive” Jaggers.

See the TikTok post here.

It is understood a memorial service was held for him on 18 October, a week after his body was discovered. A funeral took place on Monday, 21 October.

Gangs and grandeur

Jaggers aside, the Robin Hood-esque heroising of gang suspects and gangsters is not an anomaly. It has played out before in places including Cape Town and Durban.

Take the case of Yaganathan Pillay, a suspected drug kingpin also known as Teddy Mafia, who was murdered in a shooting in the latter city in January 2021.

Read more: Triple killing: Two men set alight and decapitated after suspected drug kingpin shot dead in Durban

His funeral was a grand affair. It involved a gold and white casket which, according to various media reports, was studded with “diamonds”.

A man, apparently Pillay’s brother, had told Newzroom Afrika that among those who had offered condolences were senior police officers who had expressed that, whatever was said about Pillay, “he was a nice person”.

https://youtu.be/eexTtg8ZUPM?feature=shared

Pillay, he said, had also helped whoever he could.

Another lavish funeral, this time in Cape Town, was held for Rashied Staggie, the ex-Hard Livings gang boss who was murdered in a shooting in the city in December 2019.

The convict’s gold and white casket also sparkled.

Hundreds had gathered in Manenberg – another Cape Flats suburb, parts of which are Hard Livings strongholds – to pay their final respects as his casket was driven around the area.

Talking to eNCA at the time, a woman recalled how Staggie and his brother had driven along the streets there, throwing out money for residents, and how at Christmas they had given out groceries including fish oil.

https://youtu.be/F6mVCA1YVhc?feature=shared

While this is not to question memories or judge how people choose to send off their loved ones, some funerals can create the illusion that gangsterism is the gateway to a shiny, glorified, moneyed lifestyle.

The problem with that thinking is obvious. Violent deaths – murders – often give rise to such send-offs. 

In any case, foot soldiers lower down in the gang hierarchy rarely get such lavish goodbyes.

Legacies

Jaggers was not as publicly prominent as Pillay or Staggie. His funeral was not as extravagant and did not seem to attract television crews.

However, the sentiments and counter-sentiments around the likes of Jaggers, Pillay and Staggie bring to mind the phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”.

Jaggers, based on dictionary definitions and what is publicly known about him at this stage, was neither. He is perhaps simply harsh proof that crime begets crime – you live by the sword, you die by the sword.

Read more: Another killing rocks South Africa’s ganglands – the ‘inevitable’ end of Ernie Lastig

What is the point of writing this, then?

It is not to condone crime or point out what appears obvious, but it is a reminder that, just a few suburbs apart, we experience vastly different circumstances and realities.

In death – murder – Jaggers seems to be a symbol of a still deeply divided society. A society in which some may think gangsterism and its effects are external and far removed from them, and in which some choose to overlook, or support, criminality because the individual accused of it seemed to care and provide them with something they needed, which is more than they believe of the government.

He touched so many people, some say. May his dear soul be flying high with the angels – and may he rest softly.

He harmed so many people, others say. He was a high-flying criminal suspect and no angel – he was a hardcore thug. DM

Caryn Dolley’s new book, Man Alone is available from the Daily Maverick Shop for R310 with Maverick Insider members qualifying for a 10% discount and free delivery in South Africa. Support journalism that protects democracy. Join the Maverick Insider Community here.