South Africa

Modack trial — murdered Mark Lifman and ‘colluding cops’ accusations resurrected

13 Feb 2025

A detective previously testified that organised crime accused Nafiz Modack claimed that cops were in cahoots with a suspect, Mark Lifman. Now Modack has made similar allegations, but this time, both the detective and Lifman have been murdered.

Cape Town crime suspect Mark Lifman, who was murdered a few months ago, had been in cahoots with police officers. This accusation has done the rounds several times and resurfaced this week when Nafiz Modack took to the witness stand in the Western Cape High Court for the first time.

Along with 14 other co-accused, he is facing a slew of criminal charges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGJQ2DYAgjw

The key charges relate to the assassination of policeman Charl Kinnear, who was fatally shot outside his Bishop Lavis home in Cape Town in September 2020.

Kinnear had been among the police officers investigating people, including Modack, as well as fellow cops who at the time were suspected of creating fraudulent firearm licences.

Assassination trials

It has been extensively reported that Modack, who has been in custody since his 2021 arrest, and Lifman did not see eye to eye.

Lifman was fatally shot outside the Garden Route Mall in the Western Cape town of George on 3 November.

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

At the time, he had been out on bail while being a key accused in a murder case.

Lifman was on trial with several others, including his associates Andre Naude and Jerome “Donkie” Booysen, for the August 2017 murder of international steroid smuggler Brian Wainstein, who was fatally shot at his home in the upmarket suburb of Constantia.

This is where issues converge.

Modack took to the stand for the first time in the Kinnear murder trial on Wednesday, 12 February 2025.

Modack testifies

According to a News24 report by Jenni Evans, during his long-awaited testimony, he had said that he and Lifman were rivals in the nightclub security industry.

Modack, based on that report, had detailed how he and Lifman clashed at an auction and how he had taken over about 80% of security contracts that had been held by Lifman and his associates, including Booysen and Naude.

Read more: The Enforcers – Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles

These aspects, including the 2017 auction and the broader nightclub security takeover, are unpacked in this journalist’s book, The Enforcers – Inside Cape Town’s Deadly Nightclub Battles, which was published in 2019.

According to the News24 report, Modack alleged on Wednesday that then police officer Jeremy Vearey told him in 2017 that he had to “go half-half” on the security with Lifman, which Modack refused to do.

Modack also reportedly testified that Vearey, who was head of detectives in the Western Cape at the time, told him: “You are either with us or against us.”

‘Not true’

Vearey, meanwhile, had been among the police officers investigating Modack.

In the Kinnear murder trial, Vearey previously testified and denied various accusations Modack had made against him.

Read more: Former detectives boss Jeremy Vearey dismisses Nafiz Modack claim that he took R3m in bribes

Daily Maverick reported that Vearey denied receiving a R3-million bribe from Modack to have firearms that had been confiscated from Modack returned to him.

The Kinnear murder trial, in which Modack is now testifying, continues.

Corruption claims context

Claims against Western Cape police officers – and Vearey in particular – have surfaced before in court proceedings focused on Modack.

None of those claims and accusations resulted in Vearey’s arrest.

In late 2017, Modack had been among a group of suspects detained on charges relating to the nightclub security industry and allegations that they took over security operations at clubs and restaurants, forcing owners to pay them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZNDHXBOxE

This journalist was present outside a police building in Cape Town on the day of Modack’s 2017 arrest and heard him, while he was handcuffed and being led to an awaiting cop van, saying: “General Vearey is corrupt and I’ll sort it out.”

Kinnear testified in the ensuing case when Modack and his co-accused applied for bail in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court. The case ended in the acquittal of Modack and three co-accused.

Among the issues Kinnear testified on were several recordings.

Kinnear said that in one of those recordings, Modack had claimed that he (Kinnear) and Vearey were on the payroll of Lifman and Booysen.

When a lawyer cross-examined Kinnear, he had been asked about how Lifman seemed to have had access to certain confidential police information. Kinnear was also asked why he had twice been to Lifman’s home, to which Kinnear replied he had been there in the pursuit of his investigations.

Bigger picture

While Kinnear’s 2020 murder exposed deep divisions in the South African Police Service, Lifman’s 2024 killing highlighted potentially toxic aspects relating to private security – the industry he was involved in and which Modack referred to in his court testimony this week.

While Modack has told the Western Cape High Court about ructions in connection with nightclub security in Cape Town from around 2017, problems and violence linked to it date back decades.

Read more: Cape Town’s cop-gang collusion case is still with police watchdog as mass shootings persist

The nightclub security arena has also for long produced suspicions that intelligence agents, and in certain instances police officers, may be involved in shaping it – some with good, and others with bad intentions.

Meanwhile, claims and suspicions of cops colluding with suspects and criminals extend much further, especially in the Western Cape, South Africa’s gangsterism capital. DM

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