Timothy Lotter - Cold case heats up as cops look into 2020 Cape Town killing of security boss

13 Oct 2024

Timothy Lotter was shot in his bakkie in Cape Town. His murder fits into a broader matrix of killings that seem to link to private security firm activities, some of which are alleged to be extortion in disguise.

On 5 January 2020, bullets were fired at a white Ford bakkie being driven along Louwtjie Rothman Street in Goodwood, Cape Town.

Some of those bullets struck and killed Timothy Lotter, the driver of the bakkie and the target of assassins.

Now, more than four years later, Anti-Gang Unit detectives have called on the public to help them to trace those responsible for Lotter’s murder.

Lotter ran a security company and, though it is not clear if his killing was directly linked to his business, his murder is one of several caught up in a murky matrix involving aspects of Cape Town’s private security sector and even international biker groups.

Violent backdrop

Police have previously alleged that some local groups have forced venue owners to pay “protection fees” so that the businesses can continue operating without hassle.

That equates to extortion, a crime that has become a major and sprawling problem in South Africa.

Dubious private security issues, marked with violence and involving ructions over controlling bouncer operations, have for years dogged Cape Town.

Read more: Ayepyep to State Capture – the Western Cape’s chronically converging gang and ‘security’ problems

In 2011, rumoured intelligence operative Cyril Beeka was killed.

Decades ago, in the 1990s, he ran a security outfit that some police officers viewed as a front for apartheid agents, as well as an extortion racket. (He was never convicted.)

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

Men on a motorbike are believed to have carried out the 2011 shooting of Beeka. Police have not publicly announced major developments, including an arrest or arrests, in connection with his killing.

Read more: Police and business turn the screws on extortion mafia terrorising all corners of SA

Now, it is clear detectives are pushing for a breakthrough in the Lotter murder case, which remains relevant because of various issues linked to him.

Lotter was the head of a security company involved in providing services to an establishment in Cape Town’s city centre where there was another killing five years before his murder. He had also been a head of the Satudarah Motorcycle Club in South Africa. In 2018, the club was banned in the Netherlands, where it originated, over crime including extortion.

Killers in a silver BMW

Almost a fortnight ago, on 2 October, Western Cape police spokesperson Anelisiwe Manyana announced that detectives were trying to track down Lotter’s killers.

“On Sunday 2020-01-05, the victim was driving in his white Ford light delivery vehicle in Louwtjie Rothman Street, N1 City, Goodwood, when he suddenly came under attack and was shot multiple times,” Manyana said.

“It is alleged that he was shot at by occupants of a silver BMW that was driving behind him. The suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested.”

Read more: Cape Town’s Beerhouse to close doors after fending off extortion underworld for 11 years

She said anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of those responsible for Lotter’s murder should contact the investigating officers, Lieutenant Colonel Abie Daniel Brown and Sergeant Desmond Oktober, on 071 313 7912 or 071 673 1476.

Lotter, through his work, had links to Beerhouse, a beer hall on Long Street in Cape Town’s city centre. Beerhouse closed in August, allegedly because of issues relating to extortion.

Fatal stabbing

There had been violence at Beerhouse in the past.

In 2015, a doorman, Joe Kanyona, was fatally stabbed at Beerhouse, allegedly after the owner refused to sign up with a certain group offering “services” styled as security.

Kanyona’s killer or killers seem to have evaded police.

It is understood that about two years later, during a surge in tensions relating to private security focused on the city centre, Lotter’s company, Extreme Measures Security, got involved in providing services at Beerhouse.

This meant Lotter may have got caught up in security skirmishes, which police alleged had involved two main rival groups.

Read more: Converging similarities emerge in Cape Town’s high-profile gang-linked killings

It has been alleged, via the State in related Cape Town court cases, that organised crime accused Nafiz Modack, who had been associated with Beeka, headed the one group. The other was allegedly headed by another organised crime suspect, Mark Lifman.

Modack and Lifman are accused in two different trials in the Western Cape High Court and both have denied the criminal charges against them.

Outlawed biker club

Back to Lotter. Another company that was registered in his name had an address in Goodwood, the suburb in which he was killed. It was called Zwart en Geel Rentals, meaning “black and yellow” in Dutch.

These are also the colours of the Satudarah Motorcycle Club.

The club was also referred to as the Black and Yellow Nation, according to a 2018 court judgment in the Netherlands.

This journalist’s book, To The Wolves: How Traitor Cops Crafted South Africa’s Underworld, references Lotter and Satudarah.

It reads: “Thick rumours had swirled around Lotter – that he was a police informant and thus untouchable, that he was forging ties with some of Cape Town’s most notorious gangsters to bolster the Satudarah biking club chapter he headed, and that he was a pivotal go-between connecting local figures with international drug dealers, working to infiltrate some of South Africa’s harbours to ensure a smooth passage of drugs into and out of the country.”

Meanwhile, a 2018 Netherlands Public Prosecution Service statement said there was a “code of silence” within Satudarah and it “intimidates witnesses”.

It added: “Members ... are frequently victim[s] of violence and/or extortion by fellow club members, particularly when they (are forced to) resign from the club in ‘bad standing’.”

Satudarah was also involved in turf wars with other outlaw biker groups, including the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Parallels

The Hells Angels have previously been linked to bouncer activities in South Africa.

AmaBhungane previously reported: “In Johannesburg, violence, bouncer-related hits and the drug business surged under the Elite Security Group, which had close links with the international Hells Angels but broke away over competition for territory.”

Members of the Hells Angels also appeared to be linked to Beeka. A news report on his 2011 funeral said mourners included “a group of Hells Angels [that] walked into the church carrying a wreath of roses”.

Although Beeka and Lotter may not have known each other, and the former was publicly more prominent than the latter, there are similarities between them.

Both appear to have had links to motorcycle clubs. Both were involved in private security. Both were murdered in shootings in Cape Town.

The police push to trace Lotter’s killers could lead to answers to some of the many questions circling around the city’s nightlife.

It could result in arrests and cases being cracked open to reveal details about who exactly is pulling strings and triggers that seem to be attached to, or pointing towards, parts of private security. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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South Africa

Violent backdrop

Killers in a silver BMW

Fatal stabbing

Outlawed biker club

Parallels