Bombs were hurled at a house and a car dealership in Athlone, at the same time Pagad held a motorcade protest.
|||Cape Town - Bombs were hurled at a house and a car dealership in Athlone on Wednesday night, at the same time the organisation People Against Gangsterism And Drugs (Pagad) held a motorcade protest in the area.
Pagad has denied any involvement in the blasts, which were reminiscent of attacks associated with the organisation at the turn of this century.
Nobody was injured in Wednesday night’s blasts and damage was relatively minor.
Pagad on Wednesday night embarked on its third successive motorcade, in Athlone and Bokmakierie, “in a show of support for rehabilitated victims of drug abuse and those victims who are still suffering”.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said on Thursday that an explosive device had been detonated at a car dealership, Velocity Cars, in Belgravia Estate at about 9.30pm. “It is suspected that the device was thrown into the premises before it was detonated. Vehicles on the property were damaged. No one was injured.”
Five minutes later, another explosive device was detonated at a house in Taurus Road in nearby Surrey Estate.
“The device caused damage to the garage door and shattered neighbours’ windows. No one was injured,” Van Wyk said.
This is the second bomb attack at the residence in three months, according to neighbours.
Pagad spokesman Haroon Orrie said on Thursday they had “heard about (the bombs) on the news” and had had “no involvement whatsoever”.
He added that Pagad’s enemies might be trying to frame them.
“We can’t say for certain, but often (when) Pagad finds its feet and has positive engagements with the public to bring our anti-drug and gangsterism message across, we see incidents of such attacks coinciding with our motorcades and events,” he said.
When Pagad launched its motorcade campaign on July 11, it drew a heavy police presence, as it did on Wednesday night.
Residents in Surrey Estate said that the house, which was unoccupied on Thursday morning, belonged to the owner of a taxi business. The Cape Argus phoned the home owner, but he refused to comment. The windows of the house and of cars in the driveway had been blown out.
Velocity Motors’ director, Niyaaz Jainoodian, said he had no idea who could have been behind the bombing.
“We have good relations with the community. I view this as an isolated case,” he said. He said he and his 25 staff members were stressed and “shell shocked” in the wake of the attack.
Cape Argus