The Cape Town Magistrate’s Court has heard that high-ranking police officials worked with underworld figures, who allegedly extort monies from nightclubs in the Cape Town area.
Investigating officer, Colonel Charl Kinnear, has testified how he was ordered by his superiors to release suspects and give back their firearms even before the investigation started.
Kinnear told the court that in one incident of business robbery in Worcester (near Cape Town), he was instructed to release the accused, allegedly because the SAPS legal department agreed to the release.
In an incident Kinnear says he has never experienced before or since in his long service as a police officer, he had been instructed to release about 15 men with their firearms shortly after he had arrested them in Worcester.
He says they never even went near a police cell before he was instructed to release them.
The complainant in that incident withdrew the complaint in what Kinnear believes was driven by fear for his life, after realising the kind of connections the alleged gangs had within the police service.
He testified that various night clubs in Long Street in the Cape Town city centre were approached by some of the gangs demanding a so-called protection fee of R1 600 a month.
He said that businesses have been paying since late 2015.
He testified, during an incident at the Cubana in Green Point in early December, accused number one Nafiz Modack arrived with a group and demanded to be seated at a VIP table.
He said when he was told none was available; the accused started an argument which led to a fatal stabbing of a bouncer. Another security person was hospitalised.
Earlier that evening, the same group had roughed up the owner of Cubana at Tableview who had refused to pay the so-called protection fee.
Names familiarly associated with the Cape Town underworld like Igor Russol of the Ukraine, Yuri the Russian and Cyril Beeka have come up as having connections with accused number one, Nafiz Modack.
Five men, Modack, Colin Booysen, Carl Lakay, Ashley Fields and Jacques Cronjé are appearing on charges of extortion and intimidation for violently demanding protection fees from several nightclubs and restaurants in the Cape Town area.
Their bail hearing will continue on Tuesday with Colonel Kinnear expected to continue with his testimony.
