Fear and confusion has hit both peace-loving citizens and members of South Africa’s underworld with the news that Hard Livings founder Rashied Staggie has been shot dead.
The Dember 13 incident happened in what seems like an ambush outside Staggie’s Salt River home in Cape Town.
Fire was opened on a car in which he was parked. It is thought that Staggie had been at Mitchell Plains after learning of the murder of another Hard Livings gang member on December 12.
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South Africa’s Mail & Guardian newspaper reports that photographs began circulating on WhatsApp in the aftermath of the shooting that showed a man believed to be Staggie. He had gunshot wounds to the chest.
Police initially hesitated to confirm the man in the photos was Staggie, only saying the man was a 58-year-old man whom they were yet to know more about.
But at the Groote Schuur hospital where Hard Livings gang leader was pronounced dead, police increased security over the weekend in apparent acknowledgment of possible danger even in the death of the feared man.
Another report quoted Staggie’s daughter, Ingrid Carolus, crying to the press, “He’s dead, he’s dead!”
As fate would have it, Staggie was killed on the same road as his brother, Rashad, 23 years ago. Rashad was killed by the anti-gang group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD).
Together, the brothers formed one of South Africa’s most fearful street gangs that terrorized their way into international status from smalltown Manenberg.
