‘Mafia’ family riot link
Businesses blame balaclava-clad father and sons, police for sparking chaos in Joburg CBD
SHAUN SMILLIE AND SHEREE BEGA
A BALACLAVA-CLAD father and his two sons, armed with assault rifles and allegedly accompanied by the police, have been blamed for sparking some of the worst riots Joburg has seen in recent months.
The men, who East African traders in the CBD refer to as “brand ambassadors”, are known to regularly raid shops and vendors in the area, ostensibly searching for counterfeit goods, but allegedly engaging in “Mafia style”
TANYA WATERWORTH
DESPITE having a good medical aid, Pinetown resident Hennie Botha, 52, is facing mounting debt of thousands of rand because of the cost of his cancer treatment.
And he is not alone: the exorbitant cost of treatment for cancer in South Africa is way beyond the reach of a normal citizen.
The 2017 Cancer Medicines Report highlighted a year’s supply of cancer medicine, lenalidomide, was less than R32000 in India, but cost R882000 in South Africa. Added to this is a highly restrictive patenting system in South Africa, putting the brakes on competition which could lower prices.
Botha was diagnosed with Stage 4 carcinoid cancer last year, after suffering what he thought was anaphylactic shock.
“It was a Sunday and I was cleaning operations where both men and women are regularly assaulted.
But as the traders blamed this group for triggering Thursday’s riots, in a show of force yesterday Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, accompanied by a heavy police contingent, promised to intensify actions to “root out lawlessness” along Raheema Moosa Street, where R80 million worth of counterfeit goods were confiscated last year.
Authorities said the purpose of the visit was to meet community representatives and hear why they attacked and stoned officers.
On Thursday, law enforcement agencies and brand owners were forced to make a tactical withdrawal “to avoid a bloodbath” after they were attacked with rocks, bottles and petrol bombs by hundreds of rioters while conducting an intelligence-led operation targeting counterfeit goods in the city centre.
The police had to use rubber bullets and stun grenades to protect themselves and called in the JMPD for reinforcements. However, several traders claimed the police used live ammunition.
Ethiopian shopkeeper Tadesse Yemane showed Mashaba and Joburg community safety MMC Michael Sun a handful of spent cartridges that included 9mm and 5.56mm calibred shells, which are issued to local law enforcement.
Yemane told Mashaba of the family he blamed for inciting the violence.
“There is a certain family known as brand ambassadors. They always come with the police and loot our shops.
“They break our tills and assault our women. Our community is so frustrated,” Yemane said.
Another trader, who did not want to be identified, showed a picture of an X-ray of a broken arm, which he claimed was from an assault by the men.
“There’s so much video footage of these guys coming into the shops, Mafia style,” said Dr Vusi Sibanda, the chairperson of the African Diaspora Forum. “They come in like it’s a terrorist movie, with balaclavas, creating pandemonium and shooting so people leave the shops.
In the 2017 Cancer Medicines Report, Dr Andrew Hill, Department of Translational Medicine from the University of Liverpool, highlighted the dramatic drop in the cost of HIV/ Aids treatment in South Africa since 2002.
“This was only possible because patents have been removed, allowing mass production of low-cost generics,” said Hill, urging the South African government to reconsider their approach to patented versus generic medicines for cancer.
“The South African government is allowing patents to be granted on many cancer drugs, which then allows pharmaceutical companies to charge high prices, which can be a barrier to access,” he said.
The Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) confirmed it had received numerous concerns from people regarding challenges faced in accessing life-saving cancer drugs because of high costs and availability.
Cansa’s national advocacy co-ordinator, Lorraine Govender, said: “South Africa’s outdated patent laws are a critical factor driving the vast price difference in oncology drugs.
“While we welcomed a final policy to reform these laws last year, we are still waiting for a bill from government to move the process forward and actually ensure that people have improved access to medicines on the ground. Delays to this process are costing lives.”
Fix The Patent Laws Coalition and Cancer Alliance are pushing for government to urgently address the patent issue and provide affordable generic medicines for cancer.
The national Department of Health spokesperson, Popo Maja, said the department had embarked on a number of interventions to reduce the cost of medicines.
“These include liaising with SA Health Products Regulatory Authority to prioritise the registration of biologicals and generics,” he said, as well as using reference pricing against international prices and price negotiations to reduce the cost of medicines.
“Also for the private sector, we have the medicines pricing committee that regulates medicine prices,” said Maja.
For further information on the cost of cancer medicines, go to www. canceralliance.co.za or www.fixthepatentlaws.org $3M FORTNITE WINNER, 16
ALL those hours playing video games have paid off for Kyle Giersdorf, 16, of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, US, who won $3 million (R44m) as the first Fortnite World Cup solo champion. The competition took place on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
Giersdorf, who goes by “Bugha” in the gamer world, says “words can’t explain it”.
Around 40 million players competed for a chance to play in the finals.
The tournament offered $30m in cash prizes.
In second place, 24-yearold Harrison Chang, of the US, won $1.8m.
The duo competition was won by David Wang, 17, of Austria, and Emil Pedersen, 16, of Norway. They’ll split the $3m prize. | AP