Andre Naude gunned down – yet another Steroid King case accused killed, months after Mark Lifman

Seven months after Mark Lifman was assassinated, his associate and organised crime co-accused Andre Naude was gunned down in Cape Town.

Naude, who was previously targeted in shootings and who expressed concerns about his safety, was murdered in the Goodwood area on Thursday, 12 June 2025.

Western Cape police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed to Daily Maverick on Thursday evening that Anti-Gang Unit detectives were at the crime scene after a man, 55, was murdered and another wounded.

He did not provide their identities. Several sources, though, said Naude had been killed.

Several shots from vehicle

“According to reports from the scene, at approximately 14:40 on Voortrekker Road, a vehicle pulled up next to the deceased who was in the company of three other men and the occupants of the vehicle fired several shots,” Van Wyk said.

“As a consequence, a 55-year-old man was killed and another aged 61 was wounded. Two other males aged 45 and 54 escaped injury.”

The wounded man, who sources say may have been Naude’s bodyguard, was rushed to hospital.

“No arrests have been effected yet,” Van Wyk added.

“The motive for the shooting incident is the subject of the police investigation.”

Anyone with information about the shooting should contact the investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Karl Jooste, on 071 300 5029, or CrimeStop on 08600 10111.

Jerome “Donkie” Booysen, who faced criminal charges alongside both Naude and Lifman, was at the scene after Naude’s killing.

He told News24: “I am shocked.”

Daily Maverick understands that Naude’s murder will probably cause shifts in the arenas he operated in. This could be in the form of more violence.

‘Very good friends’ murdered

Naude and Lifman were close.

During an interview around 2012, Naude had told this journalist: “Mark Lifman is a friend of mine. We’ve been friends for a very, very long time.

“As far as my concern, he’s a very good friend and a very good person.”

Naude’s murder comes after Lifman was killed in the Western Cape town of George on 3 November 2024.

Two suspects — Johannes Jacobs and Gert Bezuidenhout — were arrested in connection with Lifman’s killing hours after it happened. The pair had ties to the private security industry.

Daily Maverick previously reported it was understood that investigations into Lifman’s killing included looking into his possible involvement in security contracts linked to another province.

Naude and Lifman were among a group of men who were involved in Cape Town’s nightclub security scene, aspects of which have resulted in criminal charges against various individuals and sparked violence in the city.

Steroid King murder plot

At the time of their murders, the duo was among a group on trial for the killing of international steroid smuggler Brian Wainstein, also known as the Steroid King. 

Naude is the fifth accused in the case to be killed.

Wainstein, who had been wanted in the United States, was shot dead in his bed at his home in the upmarket Cape Town suburb of Constantia in August 2017.

Another prominent accused in the Wainstein murder case is Booysen.

Read more: Charges against murdered ‘Steroid King’ reveal a global web of crime cases

Booysen, Naude and Lifman had interconnected ties to Cape Town’s security industry.

In 2017, suspected organised crime kingpin Nafiz Modack allegedly tried to seize control of bouncer operations in the city from the three men, a group that police investigators had labelled the “Lifman group”.

According to the investigators and what surfaced in court cases, clashes between the “Modack group” and the “Lifman group” sparked violence in Cape Town from 2017 onwards.

Towards the end of that year, 2017, Naude had posted a photo of himself on Facebook with the words: “At the end of the day what really matters is that your loved ones are well, you’ve done your best and that you’re thankful for all you have.”

As for Modack, he was arrested and then acquitted for security service-related matters. 

He was subsequently rearrested for other crimes and is now in custody and on trial in connection with the murder of policeman Charl Kinnear in Cape Town in September 2020.

Bouncer background and a shootout

This journalist’s book, The Enforcers – Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles, provides in-depth detail on how elements of private security became synonymous with suspicions of criminality and focuses on several individuals who have since been murdered or accused of murder.

A section about Naude says: “A tall man with muscular upper arms, and a self-described ‘family guy’, [he] had been in the bouncer business since the early 1990s, and had a history of personal protection, including having worked for some international celebrities.”

https://uploads.knightlab.com/storymapjs/48aa12441f08a01f2671dadae3cb171a/snapshot-of-cape-town-s-deadly-organised-crime/index.html

In 2019, reports surfaced that Naude claimed to have been targeted in a shooting.

Years before that, in 2014, Naude was wounded in a shooting.

The Enforcers detailed this incident: “Naude and his friend, martial arts fighter Jan ‘The Giant’ Nortje, were shot in a parking area in front of Eastwoods Entertainment Lounge in Bellville in Cape Town’s northern suburbs…

“Naude, who was shot in the lower legs, claimed the incident stemmed from an argument relating to a woman.”

Several years ago, when this journalist interviewed Naude, he explained how he was extremely cautious in terms of his safety.

Security issues

He said that he even tried to avoid boom access points at malls because if he were driving a vehicle and rolled down his window to take or insert a parking ticket, it could expose him to danger.

Naude had also been adamant that proxies – individuals acting on behalf of others – were involved in organised crime in Cape Town, which meant that the identities of those truly orchestrating what was happening in the city were not known.

Read more: South Africa’s gang capital and its murderous matrix

Before all that, around 2011 and 2012, Naude, Lifman and Booysen were involved in a security company that Hawks officers promptly shut down over allegations that it was not registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.

Naude and Lifman, who faced criminal charges in that case, were later cleared. They countered that the State had targeted them unfairly.

When that case had been developing in court, Booysen sometimes sat in the public gallery.

Assassinated accused

Naude, Lifman and Booysen subsequently became co-accused in the Wainstein murder matter, a case that has been marked by several killings.

Aside from Naude and Lifman, three others have been shot dead.

Read more: Underworld suspect shot dead – one week before scheduled court appearance in Cape Town for murder

In 2021, Daily Maverick reported that William “Red” Stevens, reputed to have been one of the most seasoned 27s gangsters in the Western Cape, was fatally shot in the Cape Town suburb of Kraaifontein.

That happened about a week before he was set to appear in court for the Wainstein murder case.

Read more: ‘Steroid King’ murder trial – killings of four accused add to witness Mr X’s mental health issues

Daily Maverick’s Vincent Cruywagen previously reported that another accused, Anthony “Amier” van der Watt, was fatally shot in the Cape Town suburb of Retreat in October 2022, and that in March 2021, accused Jason Maits was murdered outside a house in another suburb, Mitchells Plain. DM