Maverick Citizen

MAVERICK CITIZEN

Cape Town businessman tells of nightmare experience after borrowing R3.4m from ‘underworld’ member

Cape Town businessman tells of nightmare experience after borrowing R3.4m from ‘underworld’ member
Terrible Josters linked to kidnapping and extorting city businessman and colluding with corrupt police colonel. (Photo: South African Police Service)

What followed were threats, extortion, an assault and a kidnapping purportedly carried out by gangsters and a police colonel who is the father of an alleged gang member.

Borrowing money from criminal elements linked to the underworld is tantamount to bedding down with the devil, said a Cape Town businessman after a “gentleman’s” loan with an individual who had links with the Terrible Josters gang went horribly wrong.

Maverick Citizen is in possession of a sworn statement by the 28-year-old businessman, whose identity cannot be revealed at this stage of the investigation and who is currently in hiding. 

Last year the businessman, Keith (not his real name), borrowed R3.4-million from a man and agreed to settle the loan within five to 10 years. 

At the end of the term he was meant to pay back R4.5-million, which included interest. Keith claims he wasn’t aware the loan originated in the underworld and that a corrupt policeman was also allegedly involved in the agreement.

Keith said he made payments until December 2019, but matters took a dramatic turn when the money lender, with the help of gangsters, immediately demanded a payment of R1.2-million. 

What followed were threats, extortion, an assault and a kidnapping purportedly carried out by gangsters and a police colonel who is the father of an alleged gang member. On Thursday 19 November 2020 Keith gave a statement to members of the Hawks.

He said that on Tuesday 3 December 2019 he was driving away from his workshop in Paarden Eiland, Cape Town, when a white Golf GTI approached, flashing its lights and forcing him to stop.

The individual who had advanced the load demanded that Keith pay the full amount but he explained that he did not have the funds available.

“He was very upset and told me he was going to take the Audi I was driving. I told him the car belonged to my cousin and he approached me aggressively to the point that my employees felt they had to intervene. At that point I decided to keep my employees out of harm’s way and handed over the Audi’s key to him,” the businessman said in his sworn statement.

Keith was told that his car would be kept until he made a payment of R850,000. He was ordered to pay the money into an FNB account and made subsequent payments of R320,000 on 3 December 2019, R300,000 on 10 December and R230,000, also in December.

I was told to get into the passenger seat, with the Terrible Josters gang member taking the wheel while two others sat in the back of the car. He took my phone, forced me to give my password and fingerprint to unlock the phone as well as my banking app to see where I might have some money available.

Keith was then told to collect his Audi and, according to his statement, the lender, whom he believes is a member of the Terrible Josters gang, informed him they would “pull” all the money from his business and further demanded all money invested in his business.

He had tried to negotiate, but in February 2020 started receiving threatening phone calls and messages. The money lender demanded R1.2-million. 

Keith could not come up with the amount and on 28 February the man and eight gang members pulled up at Keith’s workshop.

“I was told to get into the passenger seat, with the Terrible Josters gang member taking the wheel while two others sat in the back of the car. He took my phone, forced me to give my password and fingerprint to unlock the phone as well as my banking app to see where I might have some money available.”

A fellow gang member held a pistol to his head and struck him repeatedly.

“After driving around for about 15 minutes I was dropped at my workshop and told the R1.2-million must be ready by 5pm. My employees were traumatised seeing me returning with a bleeding ear and swollen face,” Keith said.

At 5pm on 28 February the money lender returned to Keith’s office demanding the R1.2-million. 

According to his statement, office equipment was broken and Keith was assaulted. He instructed his employees not to intervene lest they too came to harm.

The businessman managed to make a payment of R220,000 on 29 February into a personal account provided to him and a further R450,000 into a business account on Monday 2 March. 

However, due to the national lockdown and no money coming in, Keith was unable to make any further payments.

On Saturday 21 March, Keith, accompanied by his father, was summoned to meet with the money lender and his father, an allegedly corrupt police colonel. 

This colonel, said Keith in his statement, is heavily involved with the underworld and is a key link between the SAPS, gangs and companies used for money laundering.

According to Keith’s statement, the colonel told him that he had come to the underworld for a loan and now had to pay up. He warned Keith that should he not pay the outstanding amount by Friday 27 March he would “deal with him”. 

“On 3 April 2020 I received a call from the police colonel instructing me to meet him at Standard Bank in Century City. I informed him we were at Level 5 lockdown, that I don’t have any permits and will be locked up for violation of the lockdown rules.

“The police officer told me he doesn’t care and should I run into any roadblocks I need to call him and he will speak to the people at the roadblocks and then I would be let through,” he said.

But Keith never met the police colonel and instead opened a case at the Durbanville police station.

Keith said the Terrible Josters are the new kids on the block and are determined to make inroads in the underworld and replace the “old-timers”. 

There was a fierce struggle for supremacy in the underworld with corrupt police officers choosing sides.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk confirmed a case of extortion had been opened at the Durbanville SAPS and that the matter had been transferred to the Hawks for further investigation. DM/MC

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • Paddy Ross says:

    This naive ‘businessman’ seems to be able to lay his hands on significant amounts of money fairly easily, drives an Audi, yet is an employee. In what business is he employed?

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.