'Same whatsapp group': JP takes aim at Gayton over gang claims

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security JP Smith has accused PA leader Gayton McKenzie of spreading misinformation.

Cape Town Safety and Security Mayco member JP Smith has threatened legal action against Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie, accusing him of spreading misinformation and trying to link him to organised crime.

Smith's latest slavo comes days after refuted allegations make by NCC leader Fadiel Adams during his testimony before the Madlanga Commission.

"I take note that Gayton McKenzie has again attempted to defame me this evening and spread misinformation, like his colleague Fadiel Adams," Smith said on Facebook.

"They have nothing to offer residents in terms of actual solutions or strategies to make the lives better of people who are affected by violent crime, so they turn to lies."

Smith said this was, to his knowledge, the second time McKenzie claimed that a high-ranking member of the 28s gang had contacted him with information about Smith.

He questioned McKenzie's alleged contact with gang members, particularly given his position as a national minister.

"That alone should be a concern to all South Africans: that a National Minister is acknowledging that he receives repeated calls from the very gangsters who are shooting our communities," Smith said.

"The same gangsters who are shooting up our communities call him 'broer'. I hope the residents of Cape Town are taking note."

Smith also turned his attention to the PA, pointing to allegations previously made by a PA councillor about the daughter of notorious gangster Red Williams, who Smith said is the party's secretary- general.

"It is laughable to think that Gayton McKenzie is trying so hard to link me to organised crime while the secretary-general of the Patriotic Alliance is the daughter of the notorious gangster Red Williams, the same daughter who was accused by a PA councillor of distributing narcotics to fund the Patriotic Alliance," Smith said.

Smith said he has spent his career fighting gangs and gangsterism and questioned the motives behind the attempts to associate him with organised crime.

"I've spent my whole life fighting gangs and gangsterism, and they seem dead-set on attempting to defame me, so residents of Cape Town must really ask the question: on whose behalf are they working?"

The attack on McKenzie follows Smith's response to allegations made by Adams before the Madlanga Commission.