My name is Julian Julies  - I am a small business owner who employs and helps out in my community and the greater South African economy.
I work closely with other small businesses to hare opportunities such as workshops and training programmes for young people and existing businesses in the community. 

We are currently being targeted by gangs that try and extort us for money, and intimidating our customers when we refuse. This is not only hurting our businesses but also creates an environment where we have people gangsters acting like the law and putting fear in everyone. They threaten contractors and those bringing in important services into communities.

We already struggle with price hikes and challenges to our businesses and now an additional layer of struggle is people who refuse to do honest work, but take advantage of us and our customers - threatening livelihoods and customers who we are offering services to make our communities livable.

As an entrepreneur, I also provided shelter clothes, and food for the homeless.
And also, food parcels for the most vulnerable. These are programmes that are being threatened by protection fee gangs who sabotage the good work we are trying to do in the community

This initiative and other businesses cannot function properly because gangsters and PAGAD are sabotaging these efforts.

As a businessman I'm getting threats constant attacks from gangsters and Pagad because of the syndicate operation in our city and our saddest experience is that we are non-compliant due to such activities, and we have closed our office due to these incidents where it all started at the IPTS Standford Road bridgesite where I should've spent thousands of rands on lawyers to represent my civil cases and then the syndicate operation followed up and proceeds with they activities with sabotaging, extortion, assaults and threats at David Livingstone Secondary School site in front of Government officials at a site meeting.Until now people who comes after me and who is not even residing in the paticular ward or area get jobs and been put on they database list,also if you will investigate you will discover that all these businesses are busy with money laundering they demand cash from contractors so that it mustn't reflect in they personal or business bank accounts. 

I ask that the city look into the matter ASAP because I am struggling to take care of my children because my businesses are suffering for the last 3 years we cant fuction anymore and we go into depth futher with all entities attach to my businesses for example like SARS- BANKS-SEESA-DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT-PSIRA-CIPC and the list goes on....

Please I beg the President & Police Minister to look into this serious matter and support our community and my businesses because it's difficult to function and to participate freely in the economy. We need a task force to end extortion gangs.

Please help us rise above these circumstances, and for government to put a task force in place by signing this petition before it's too late.

Below are pictures of some of the work affected by these gangs: 

#ENDEXTORTIONGANSGTERISM