While investigators stay on the trail of the policemen who allegedly assisted disgraced policeman Piet Meyer in setting up his crime empire, Paul Kirk reveals how the man described as `the biggest gangster in Durban’ came to fall
The arrest of Senior Superintendent Piet Meyer, provincial commander of organised crime unit in Kwa Zulu-Natal, had its genesis two years ago in the confession of an awaiting-trial murder suspect. And his downfall has remarkable similarities with that of Eugene de Kock, the former commander of Vlakplaas.
Andr Vogel, presently being shuffled from prison to prison for his own protection, made what may prove to be the most astonishing expos of police corruption since Almond Nofemela – in similar circumstances -shopped his boss, De Kock.
In his lengthy and damning affidavit Vogel tells how detectives from Meyer’s organised crime unit allegedly actively assisted him in the gangland-style execution of well-known Durban bouncer Billy van Vuuren. He also tells a tale of how Meyer and his men amassed considerable personal fortunes – according to his claims – by running mafia-style protection rackets.
Vogel, who boasted to anyone visiting his South Coast gun shop that he was an informer for the organised crime unit, claims that Inspector Joe Kitching and Sergeant Gavin Storrier of Meyers’s unit even travelled to Johannesburg to photograph his intended victim and gave him exact details of where the target lived and worked. Van Vuuren – the victim – had for some reason fallen foul of the organised crime unit and the drug dealers Vogel claims they protected. While Vogel does not claim police ordered him to commit murder, he claims they offered him assistance when he told them he had been asked to kill the man. He also claims he had been promised police protection from prosecution if he killed Van Vuuren.
Upon hearing the claims, Detective Inspector Herbert Heap of the special investigations team from the office of the then deputy attorney general of the Transvaal, Jan d’Oliviera, headed for Durban to interview Kitching and Storrier.
Perhaps not surprisingly the two flatly denied everything and said they had not been to Johannesburg in months – Vogel’s claims were, according to the two, lies made up by a desperate man. Their commander, Captain Corrie Botha, backed them up – he also denied the unit had sent any personnel to Gauteng for months. However, when members of the special investigation team examined the unit’s subsistence and travel claims it was discovered that three members of the unit had indeed travelled to Johannesburg. The three were paid another visit.
When asked to explain why they had lied about their travels to Gauteng, Kitching and Storrier claimed they had simply forgotten that they had done so in order to hand over information on Van Vuuren’s alleged drug dealing to Johannesburg police.
When asked if they had supplied Vogel with a photograph of Van Vuuren, they admitted to this as well, saying Vogel had requested the photo so as to be able to positively identify the man and befriend him. Vogel, they claimed, had offered to inform on Van Vuuren and to help them determine whether or not he was dealing in narcotics as some claimed.
The story Kitching and Storrier told may not have convinced many but it was good enough for them to avoid prosecution. It was, after all, their word against Vogel’s. But all the same the spotlight was on Storrier and Kitching who would soon fall, caught red- handed by Heap. Their number came up when, in July 1998, they allegedly robbed suspected drug dealer Typhus Dlamini of R12 000 when they searched his home in Austerville.
Dlamini complained that he had been robbed and his home damaged. Heap swooped and the duo were arrested.
Heap and his team had been collecting information on Meyer and his men for some time already when they arrested the pair. Even superficial investigations into the veracity of Vogel’s claims showed that Durban was a festering sore of rotten cops.
D’Oliviera’s office realised that whatever the authenticity of Vogel’s claims relating to the Van Vuuren murder, his revelations of unprecedented corruption contained large elements of truth. They began to concentrate on the more high-profile corrupt police that Vogel identified.
In the meantime Storrier resigned from the police while Kitching – presently on stress leave – left the organised crime unit to join the Amanzimtoti detective branch.
Their boss, Botha, the man who had corroborated the claims that the two had never been in Johannesburg, was among those being investigated. Meyer was the main target – but that would take time. And while investigating Meyer, Heap soon got himself another crooked cop.
In December 1998 Heap arrested Karen Botha, the 28-year-old former escort wife of Botha, for allegedly running a brothel and possession of narcotics. Amazingly, Corrie Botha, a vice investigator who specialised in cracking down on brothels, had overlooked his wife’s illegal establishment. He also forgot that his wife was supplying narcotics to their 16-year-old daughter. Botha is presently being investigated for, among other things, dereliction of duty as well as defeating the ends of justice – a charge relating to attempting to shield his wife from prosecution for a charge of reckless and negligent driving.
The business licence for Botha’s brothel had been signed by Inspector Sarel Geldenhuys. Geldenhuys is a serving member of the South African Narcotics and Alcohol Bureau (Sanab) who, like Botha, specialises in policing brothels and casinos. He also serves as Sanab’s communications officer and ensures the work of his unit enjoys near endless positive newspaper coverage. Sanab – previously known as the vice squad – falls under the command of the organised crime unit.
Geldenhuys and his partner, Sergeant Dave McBrier, are – according to the sworn affidavit of Heap – the foot soldiers of a protection racket run by Meyer on illegal casinos. They are also under investigation for collecting bribes from escort agencies. Former casino boss Donald Kirby is one of the many casino bosses who have given affidavits to Heap on how the pair “shook him down” for a total of R5 000 for Sanab braais and a golf day.
Not surprisingly, Kirby was never given a receipt for the funds but his casino was never raided again after he started to pay off the pair. Other casinos kept the pair happy by bribing them with free casino chips. Escort agencies were expected to provide free booze and “entertainment” for the pair to avoid being raided.
Charges of perjury are also currently being investigated against the pair who Heap describes as “two of his [Meyer’s] closest associates”. The extent of Sanab’s corruption in relation to casinos can be seen by going through the records of the Durban magistrates courts. From February 1997 to January 1999 Sanab did not obtain a single successful prosecution for running an illegal casino.
On the few occasions that raids were carried out on casinos Geldenhuys allegedly simply perjured his evidence in court to such an extent the cases were thrown out of court.
Geldenhuys, like Meyer, presently leads a lavish lifestyle. Like Meyer, the source of Geldenhuys’s wealth is under scrutiny and his opulent lifestyle may end any day.
For many years Geldenhuys lived in the comfortable – but downmarket – police flats at CR Swart Square. He had no personal transport; instead he illegally used a police Toyota Conquest for personal transport. Then almost overnight Geldenhuys came into money. He moved out of his police flat and bought a house in Ashley, a suburb of Pinetown. He bought himself a BMW and a 4×4. To top it all off he bought three race horses which he stabled at Summerveld.
Not bad going when he is alleged to have had to share his bribes with Meyer and McBrier.
Trevor Erlink also contributed handsomely to the Meyer coffers. Court papers tell a tale of how JP de Vaal, a bouncer and employee of Erlink, collected R500 per table per week from all of Durban’s illegal casinos as part of his duties for Erlink. In return for collecting this money that was referred to as “lawyers’ fund fees” De Vaal received a monthly salary of R5 000. These fees were apparently to pay for legal representation from Erlink’s lawyer – Carl van der Merwe – as well as to pay for fines in the unlikely event that any of them was convicted.
Heap claims this money was distributed to, among others, members of Sanab and the organised crime unit who were also involved in policing casinos. Some of the money also went to Van der Merwe – himself a former Sanab officer and close friend of Meyer. Van der Merwe himself is currently under investigation for a variety of offences and has been reported to the Law Society by Heap. And, as if collecting protection money was not enough, court papers filed by Heap in support of the attachment of Meyer’s property claim he also owned his own illegal gambling machines as well.
Superintendent Andrew “Spyker” Ludick, who was commander of the Durban organised crime unit, has made a statement that his boss owned two “one-armed bandits” that were placed in Erlink’s Durban North casino and from which he received all profits. With all the money that was flowing from illegal casinos to Sanab it is understandable that Meyer was keen to protect his golden hen. When then minister of safety and security Sydney Mufamadi attempted to regulate the casino industry and close down the illegal casinos, Meyer took up the cudgels against his boss.
He wrote a letter in support of an application by the Gambling Association of South Africa insisting that casinos were in no way linked to organised crime and in fact led to a decrease in crime. The Gambling Association was a grouping of illegal casinos that Meyer was supposed to be cracking down on. Theoretically, had Meyer been doing his job they would not have been able to exist. The papers also show how, only a few months before the letter was written, Meyer arranged for a R10 000 donation to the CR Swart Officer Club. The money was allegedly for “renovations” that never occurred. An expensive sound system given to Meyer by the association, and also intended for the club, is missing.
But casinos were by no means the only form of income Meyer had. Vogel, in his affidavit, claims organised crime unit officers made a fortune out of protecting drug dealers and other criminals. The affidavit of Senior Superintendent Brian Boucher, then station commissioner of Point Road police station, supports Vogel’s claims. Boucher’s affidavit tells the story of how he and Meyer regularly crossed swords as Meyer freed suspected criminals and stole evidence with impunity.
Boucher described Meyer as “Mr Big”, “the biggest gangster in Durban” and the “top independent drug dealer in Durban” in his affidavit. He claimed the descriptions had all been given to him by alleged rival criminals. He then goes on to mention specific incidents where Meyer interfered with investigations allegedly for payment.
Perhaps the most blatant example of Meyer’s irregular conduct comes in the form of one of the many cases of defeating the ends of justice being investigated against him.
In early 1994 a tattoo artist, known gangster and member of a notorious motor cycle gang, Lucky Sylaides, was seen firing an Uzi machine gun into the air outside his tattoo parlour in the middle of Durban. Point Road police station detectives rushed to the scene and Sylaides was arrested and charged with the prohibited possession of a machine gun – a charge that carries a five-year minimum sentence. Meyer arrived within minutes of the arrest and demanded Sylaides’s release, claiming he was a police agent. Sylaides was released into Meyer’s custody as was the weapon. The man was never charged and the Uzi never seen again. Investigations by Heap revealed Sylaides was neither an agent nor an informer as Meyer claimed.
In another case of defeating the ends of justice, Meyer secured the release of a suspect arrested with 30g of cocaine. After allegedly intimidating two young Point Road detectives Meyer had them release the suspect and the cocaine to him. He also instructed the detectives not to complete any paperwork relating to the arrest. Neither the suspect nor the cocaine was ever seen again.
In one of many theft cases against him Meyer is alleged to have stolen R208 000 worth of counterfeit R50 notes from Jenny Budree, a Durban lawyer. In this case Meyer instructed the investigating officer, a Captain Rajendren Aiyer from Sanab, to hand over the money as well as the suspect to him. After being alone in Meyer’s office for a few minutes Budree was released and never charged. Meyer is alleged to have kept the money.
Court papers filed by Heap reveal Meyer also made his money from blatant theft. When furniture and other goods were confiscated in drug-related crimes Meyer and the men from his unit simply kept the goods for themselves.
Other charges currently pending against Meyer come from a fraud scheme pioneered by Eugene de Kock. When tens of thousands of rands went missing from the organised crime unit’s safe Meyer decided he needed to replace it.
He instructed a number of colleagues to make up false expense claims and fraudulent requests for reward money to replace the cash. The thefts were never reported or investigated.
For years Meyer and certain members of his unit led lavish lifestyles. Until Vogel talked they were never investigated. Attempts to get Durban police to investigate Meyer all came to naught. Johana Meyer, the former wife of the organised crime unit boss, tried to blow the whistle with no success. When she met the commander of the anti-corruption unit in Durban, Superintendent Beyers Marx, he told her that the stories she had were “just allegations”. When she offered to supply receipts she was still not taken seriously.
Rather than investigate the matter Marx informed Meyer of the conversation and the former Mrs Meyer received a phone call from her ex-husband demanding she explain why she tried to inform on him. Soon afterward her tyres were slashed and her flat burgled. Nothing was stolen. The burglar simply splashed blood all over the walls.
Others who tried to blow the whistle on Meyer also found themselves biting off more than they could chew. The tales of two Durban women who tried – Dawn Azor and Jenny Wild – frightened many people off. Durban’s most notorious drug syndicate – allegedly headed by former murder and robbery detective Bruce Bekker – operates quite openly. One does not even need the most rudimentary detective skills to establish who they are and that they enjoy police protection.
When Azor divorced her husband she placed on record in papers before the Durban High Court how her husband was one of the kingpins in the drug syndicate.
The Azor divorce papers tell a tale of how Meyer’s narcotics police assisted the syndicate and even helped members of the syndicate assault rival drug dealers. Nothing was done to investigate Meyer. Instead Azor had to flee the country when attempts were made on her life.
Veteran Durban advocate Wild wrote a thesis on how Sanab, headed by Meyer, functioned as a crime syndicate which trafficked in narcotics, illegal guns, poached ivory and stolen luxury motor vehicles. A month after the draft of the thesis was completed, Meyer (then a major in Sanab) led a raid on her home. In what was seen by many as a deliberate attempt to frame her, Meyer charged Wild with possession of cocaine.
After five years in which Meyer consistently refused to hand over documents Wild said would prove Meyer had attempted to frame her, the case was thrown out of court.
State attorney Krish Govender felt strongly enough to report the matter – and Meyer’s conduct – to the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions. By the time Govender’s report reached the office of Bulelani Ngucka – the successor to D’Oliviera – Meyer was already being investigated. At present he stands accused of 17 counts of fraud, theft and defeating the ends of justice.
When approached by the Mail & Guardian senior public prosecutor Barend Groen wanted to be quoted on only one thing: “There will be more charges brought against Piet Meyer. The 17 charges are the tip of the iceberg and more will follow.”
Meyer has already filed papers opposing the confiscation of his property under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. In his papers he makes no attempt to explain where his wealth came from, instead saying he will explain its source in court when he appears. He also claims that, in evaluating his wealth, Heap overpriced his gym equipment and 4×4 jeep.
Whatever the value of Meyer’s gym equipment he still has to explain how he managed to spend R500 000 between October 1995 and June 1999 when his total take-home income for this period was R131 153,20. And even if he can explain the source of income he will be in trouble with the tax man. The South African Revenue Service has informed Heap that, apart from his police salary, Meyer had not declared any significant other income in his tax returns.
When the M&G contacted Meyer for comment he said he could explain the source of all his money. He also claimed that he was the victim of a witch-hunt orchestrated by his former wife. “When the Prevention of Organised Crime Act was passed the state had in mind the prosecution of people with millions of rands who could not account for their wealth. I have been put through severe humiliation and inconvenience because I have to account for a few hundred thousands over a period of years.
“The main witness against me is a jealous ex- wife. I am the victim of a vendetta and I refuse to answer any questions until I am before a court of law. This is turning into a media circus.”