The latest episode of Unsolved Murders SA takes listeners deep into one of South Africa’s most notorious underworld stories — the life and death of Rashied Staggie, once considered Cape Town’s most feared gangster.
In Episode 003, the podcast revisits his rise from poverty on the Cape Flats to his shocking assassination in 2019, asking the questions that still haunt the city: Who killed Rashied Staggie — and why?
On the night of 13 December 2019, automatic gunfire echoed through Salt River. Staggie, 53, was shot multiple times while sitting in a car outside a friend’s home — just metres away from where his twin brother, Rashaad, was burned alive by the anti-gang vigilante group PAGAD in 1996. For Cape Town, it felt like history repeating itself.
Born in 1966, he grew up in poverty on the Cape Flats, an area created by apartheid-era forced removals. The lack of opportunity pushed many young people toward crime, and Staggie and his twin brother soon found themselves running the streets.
By the 1980s, the twins had founded the Hard Livings gang, which became one of South Africa’s largest criminal organisations. The gang made its money through drug trafficking, protection rackets, and extortion, spreading its influence from Manenberg to Hanover Park. Their war with rival gangs, like the Americans, turned the Flats into a war zone.
Yet, Rashied Staggie’s reputation was complicated. He was both feared and admired. While he ruled through violence and intimidation, he also used his wealth to provide food, pay school fees, and help struggling families.
For some, he was a Robin Hood figure; for others, he was the man responsible for destroying their communities with drugs and gang warfare.
In 2003, his public image crumbled when he was convicted of kidnapping and gang rape. He served over a decade in prison, later claiming to have found religion and become a changed man.
After his release, Staggie appeared at church events and spoke about peace and redemption. But many doubted his transformation, saying he never truly left the gang life behind.
The episode highlights how, by 2019, tensions were rising again on the Cape Flats. Younger gangs were taking over, and the old leaders were losing influence. When Staggie was murdered, speculation spread fast.
Some believed it was revenge — possibly from PAGAD, whose members still blamed him for years of bloodshed. Others suspected an internal hit from within the Hard Livings, saying some gang members had grown tired of Staggie’s attempts to present himself as “reformed.” A few theories even pointed to foreign drug syndicates who may have been defrauded in business deals.
Despite multiple leads, no arrests have ever been made. The police investigation stalled, and witnesses were too afraid to come forward. As the episode notes, the silence around his killing is typical of Cape Town’s underworld — where loyalty is enforced by fear, and speaking out can be a death sentence.
Unsolved Murders SA uses court records, archived interviews, and eyewitness testimony to piece together Staggie’s story — from his ruthless early years to the quiet contradictions of his final days. It also explores the social conditions that created figures like him: deep poverty, broken communities, and a state that failed to protect its people.
“Rashied Staggie’s life mirrors the Cape Flats,” Nkosi says in the episode. “It’s a place where violence and survival are intertwined, where even redemption comes with a price.”
Today, Rashied Staggie’s murder remains unsolved. His death left behind a fragile calm on the Cape Flats, but also a lingering question about who controls the streets he once ruled.
Episode 003, titled Rashied Staggie: The Truth Behind the Death of Cape Town’s Most Feared Gangster, is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.