Suspect arrested for Cape Town ‘construction mafia’ murder of city worker Wendy Kloppers

24 Jun 2024

In February 2023, City of Cape Town official Wendy Kloppers was gunned down at a housing development site. Now, more than a year later, a suspect has been arrested. It’s the latest in a series of organised crime breakthroughs in the city.

Another breakthrough has been made in dismantling Cape Town’s web of organised crime – this time a suspect is in custody for yet another high-profile killing.

On Monday, 24 June 2024, the suspect handed himself over to police and was charged with murder and attempted murder.

One of the charges relates to the murder of City of Cape Town official Wendy Kloppers, who was shot dead at a housing development project in February 2023.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Police hunt construction mafia killers after bullets fly at a Cape Flats building site

Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis previously announced a R1-million reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for her death.

Kloppers’s murder was linked to “construction mafia” crimes plaguing the city and areas further afield.

On Monday afternoon, Western Cape police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said: “The relentless investigation by members attached to the provincial Organised Crime Investigation Unit led to a 40-year-old suspect handing himself over to SAPS after detectives were on his trail.”

Van Wyk did not name the suspect.

‘Criminals will be hunted’

He said the suspect was detained in connection with a shooting that took place in Delft on 16 February last year.

“According to reports, the suspects arrived at the housing construction site on foot and asked to speak with an unknown individual, when he suddenly started shooting at the individuals on the site,” Van Wyk said.

“[Kloppers] died on the scene due to injuries sustained and a second victim, 40 years old, sustained one gunshot to her arm.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: Spate of shootings in Cape Town linked to political, gang and construction mafia elements

Western Cape provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile said the arrest should serve as a warning “to other criminals that they will be hunted down and brought to book”.

The suspect will appear in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Gang claims and contractors

Kloppers was gunned down at the Symphony Way Housing Project building site.

City Manager Lungelo Mbandazayo previously told IOL that she was killed after the city refused to give in to gangsters who had been demanding work from contractors at the housing project.

Kloppers’ murder resulted in the city investigating certain construction-related tenders.

The investigation extended to Nicole Johnson, who, with her husband, alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, faces various criminal accusations.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Alleged gang boss goes big — Ralph Stanfield ‘in bed’ with Old Mutual, Atterbury

Both Johnson and Stanfield have remained in custody since being arrested in September last year in a car theft case.

The investigation following Kloppers’ murder led to the blacklisting of companies linked to Johnson, who is involved in the construction sector.

SAPS also investigated other construction tender issues and in March 2023, a month after Kloppers was killed, Malusi Booi was fired as the mayoral committee member for human settlements. This came after his Cape Town office was raided during a fraud and corruption investigation.

Ralph Stanfield’s name surfaced in that investigation, which dealt with whether Booi had accepted bribes from underworld figures.

Read more in Daily Maverick: SAPS investigating allegations Cape Town mayco member Malusi Booi ‘took cash from gangsters’

Booi, who has not been charged, has previously said he felt his life was at risk.

Johnson, Stanfield and three co-accused in the car theft case are expected back in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court later this week.

Murders and attempted killings

Meanwhile, the suspect arrested on Monday in connection with the Kloppers murder is expected in that court on Tuesday – the same day three other men are expected back in the dock.

The trio – Jonathan Cloete, Shakeel Pelston and Abraham Wilson – were arrested last week.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Three arrested for Cape Town shootings linked to gang violence

Their case may be joined to that of Stanfield and Johnson. Cloete, Pelston and Wilson face charges relating to various offences, including the September 2021 murder of Faizel Adams, a police officer based at Parliament.

He had been visiting a cousin in Cape Town’s northern suburbs when he was shot dead.

Read more in Daily Maverick: The wild, wild Cape – Shooting of a ‘rival’s’ son plus ‘Nafiz Modack enterprise’s’ 3,000 charges

The charges are also tied to the attempted killing of Joel Booysen, the son of alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen.

In May last year, Daily Maverick reported that Joel Booysen was wounded in a shooting in the Cape Town suburb of Green Point.

Shot before trial

Charges in the Cloete, Pelston and Wilson case also have links to the murder of William “Red” Stevens.

Stevens, reputed to have been one of the most seasoned 27s gangsters in the Western Cape, was shot outside his home in the Cape Town suburb of Kraaifontein in February 2021.

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

At the time, he was facing charges in a case concerning the assassination of Brian Wainstein, an international steroid smuggler killed in his home in the upmarket suburb of Constantia in August 2017.

Among his co-accused currently on trial for the Wainstein killing are alleged organised crime figures Mark Lifman and Jerome Booysen. DM

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South Africa

‘Criminals will be hunted’

Gang claims and contractors

Murders and attempted killings

Shot before trial