The Mercury
Major-General Johan Booysen. Photo: Marilyn Bernard
Durban – Prosecutions boss Nomgcobo Jiba said that in deciding to charge KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen with racketeering, she relied particularly on four statements obtained during the investigation into the alleged Cato Manor “death squad”.
However, of the four statements, one remains unsigned, one was made after she authorised the racketeering prosecution and another was made by a man who is now dead.
Jiba, the acting national director of public prosecutions, puts up the statements as part of her affidavit filed with the Durban High Court opposing an attempt by Booysen and his 27 co-accused to have the racketeering charges against them set aside.
Booysen, who has been suspended, claimed that there was no evidence against him to warrant his prosecution.
Jiba has told Booysen’s lawyers there is no record of the decision she took on August 17 last year and any internal memoranda, discussions and instructions are “legally privileged”.
But, in her affidavit, she said she had applied her mind to the “evidence contained in the docket”. It was this evidence that resulted in Booysen and members of the now disbanded unit, arrested in two batches last year and charged with about 116 counts, including 28 murders, being accused of operating a death squad under Booysen’s command.
Referring to the alleged killings, she said the information before her suggested that members of the unit would “in most of them” place a firearm next to the deceased person to create the impression that she or he was armed.
There was also information given under oath that Booysen knew, or ought to have known, that his subordinates were killing suspects instead of arresting them.
Further, there was information that the killings were, in certain circumstances, motivated by a desire by Booysen and members of the unit to “enrich themselves” by state monetary awards and certificates of excellence.
She made “particular reference” to statements by former Cato Manor unit commander Colonel Rajen Aiyer, a former police reservist and friend of Booysen’s, who is now living in Greece, Aris Danikas and one Ndlondo, who said he was a police informer.
One of Aiyer’s statements was made at the end of August – more than 10 days after Jiba approved the prosecution.
The others refer mainly to internal politics with allegations that Booysen was effectively running the unit and was out to ruin Aiyer’s career.
The statement from Danikas remains unsigned. Almost all his allegations relate to incidents before the indictment period of May 2008 to November 2011, are not covered in the final indictment and there are no related charges.
Ndlondo alleges that others paid Booysen money for organising hits on certain taxi bosses and in one instance was paid R1 million. But there is also no specific charge relating to this in the indictment, and Ndlondo died of natural causes last November.
Jiba insisted that Booysen was “actively involved in the commission of offences and their cover-up”.
She said there had been no proper investigations done previously into the killings, but now there was proof that he had been involved in racketeering activities.
“The State’s case cannot be said to be doomed to predictable failure. On the contrary, there is at the very least the likelihood of a successful prosecution on the facts and evidence shown to me,” she said, adding that any dispute of fact could be resolved at the trial.
Booysen still has to reply to her affidavit, after which the matter will be set down for hearing before a judge.
Booysen and his co-accused will appear in court again on the criminal charges in November, but a trial date cannot be set until after the outcome of his challenge to the racketeering charges.
tania.broughton@inl.co.za
The Mercury
