'I'm sorry for the evil I did': Rashied Staggie's video message to mourners

"I'm sorry for flooding Cape Town with drugs and for the murders I committed."

This was the message in a video recording made by Rashied Staggie and played at his funeral in Cape Town on Saturday.

The film was shown to a packed congregation at a church in Observatory, where the body of the murdered former Hard Livings gang boss rested in a white and gold coffin.

Staggie - shot dead outside his Salt River home eight days earlier - apologised to parents for the murders committed on his orders and for the lives ruined by the drugs he pushed.

"I have so much on my heart ... heavenly father lead me, holy spirit lead me," said the former gangster, who converted from Islam to Christianity in prison.

"Once upon a time I was everything the dog dragged in through the front door," Staggie said in what appeared to be an address to church congregants.

"I was the face of everything that was wrong in this city. I was the leader who ordered so many murders.

"I apologise to my family, to my wife and my children, for putting them through this. If you knew how many I've hurt, and how much I've been hurt, I'm not asking for sympathy.

"I want to ask for forgiveness for all the kids lost to gang violence."

Staggie pleaded with young Capetonians not to follow in his footsteps. "I'm the cause of so much drugs coming into the Cape. I also fell to drugs," he said.

"I used to do every kind of drug, and I'd come home drugged up and it hurt my children. I look back and it's painful.

"I wish I could live my life over and be a different Rashied Staggie. I am the cause of my brother's death," he said, referring to the 1996 lynching of his twin, Rashaad, by protesters linked to People Against Gangsterism and Drugs.

But the crux of his message might have been his demise. "I want to work with the police. I want to work with gangsters. I'm asking you gangsters to stop," he said.

In a euology, Staggie's younger brother, Solomon, reinforced this suspicion. "He came out, and that's why these events unfurled," said Solomon.

He urged the slain gang boss's friends not to avenge his death. "We want justice, not revenge," said Solomon. "To those in Manenberg [stronghold of the Hard Livings], we don't want revenge, we want justice. I believe with all sincerity, that is my brother's heart."

Solomon described Staggie as a caring brother. "In 1999, I went to prison and he came afterwards. But he would get his friends to come and visit me. He was taking care of me. He was an outstanding brother."

Solomon said Staggie also cared deeply about his community. "He ran from one meeting to another. That is who he was. He wanted to make a difference in the community."

Staggie's daughter, Saadiqa, told mourners her father did not choose gangsterism but "killed to survive" because he had only two years of schooling.

"He was a good man," Saadiqa said. "I know that social media and newpapers are going to capitalise on my father's death. When you write those articles, have a heart. I don't read [them]. Even if I can come across it, it does not bother me because I knew my dad."

Capetonians were not spared Saadiqa's criticism. "Cape Town people are small minds [judging by the social media posts]. He didn't choose that life. He killed to survive," she said.

Earlier, a heavy police contingent stood by as Staggie arrived at his home in Cape Town for the last time.

The coffin arrived in London Road, Salt River, in a stretched Range Rover hearse with side-opening doors and a rotating platform.

Staggie, 56, was carried into his heavily fortified home for a private viewing by family members.

Throngs of people came to pay their respects in a street where Staggie held sway for decades — and where his twin was lynched.

The hearse was followed into the London Road by a convoy of luxury SUVs as police monitored proceedings from both ends of the street.

After the viewing, a lone bagpiper played as Staggie’s wife, Rashieda, emerged from the house in tears with one hand on the handle of the coffin.

The coffin rotated slowly on the hearse’s turntable before the doors were shut and it set off for Jubilee Community Church, watched and filmed by numerous onlookers.

At the church, known gangsters - including Sexy Boys leader Jerome "Donkie" Booysen - were patted down by police officers as they arrived.

Staggie's friend, pastor Ivan Waldeck, said: "The family has asked media to respect this moment and leave."

But within seconds he added: "You must thank the Staggie family, his daughter has just approached me and said you can stay but at the back. The world needs information."

The order of service thanked friends and family for being there and included a quote from Staggie: "Sien lewe and laat lewe" (See life and let live).

After the funeral service, the body was due to be taken to Manenberg, the Hard Livings’ stronghold, where thousands of residents were expected to pay their respects to Staggie at The Greens sports ground.

The ex-gangster was expected to be buried later at a cemetery in Durbanville.

Staggie was murdered on December 13 by a gunman who fired a volley of shots into a car he was sitting in outside his house. No arrests have been made.