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Who is trying to kill Jerome 'Donkie' Booysen and why?

Gang activity in the suburb where the man who allegedly tried to murder alleged Sexy Boys gang boss Jerome "Donkie" Booysen is believed to be from may shed light on who might be behind the repeated attempts on his life.

The man in question was killed during the incident.

Jerome Booysen, whose brother Colin Booysen is facing charges of extortion, was wounded in the left arm in a shooting at a Spur in a Kuils River mall. It was the sixth attempt on his life in just over a year.

In June, during an exclusive interview with News24, Jerome Booysen did not want to talk about who he thought was trying to kill him or why he was being targeted.

At the time he said that he did not believe in gangsterism and was focused on his children and business in the property industry.

"Where the people come on with this gangsterism and gangster stuff, they must come and prove it to me because maybe I don't have a lot of friends in the police and that's why they can point fingers because they [are] pointing the finger away from them," Jerome Booysen said.

Gang stronghold

News24 understands the man who allegedly wounded Jerome Booysen in the left arm in Wednesday's shooting lived in Woodstock, which is a short distance outside the Cape Town city centre.

This suburb is a stronghold of the Young Gifted Sexy Bastards gang, which in turn has ties to the notorious Hard Livings gang.

Previously, the Young Gifted Sexy Bastards gang was mentioned during an underworld court case as allegedly being involved in murders linked to nightclub security operations.

News24 understands that the man killed on Wednesday is suspected to have been a member of the Hard Livings gang.

Decades ago Hard Livings gangsters were involved in the nightclub security business when underworld kingpin and rumoured National Intelligence Agency operative Cyril Beeka, who was murdered in 2011, ran a dominant bouncer company focused on Cape Town's city centre.

Several years ago during a court case a Hawks investigator named Jerome Booysen as a suspect in Beeka's killing, however, nothing has come of this claim.

Nightclub security ties

Following Beeka's murder, Jerome Booysen and a group of businessmen, including his brother, Colin, Mark Lifman and Andre Naude, ran a private security company that provided doormen to the majority of nightclubs around Cape Town.

In March 2017 suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack then started taking over security operations, allegedly along with others including Colin Booysen, implying that Colin Booysen was no longer seeing eye-to-eye with his brother.

Police have said that tensions between these two groupings have resulted in a power struggle in the nightclub security industry.

Modack, Colin Booysen, Jacques Cronje, Ashley Fields and Carl Lakay were arrested in December 2017 for allegedly extorting a restaurant owner and forcing him to use security provided by a particular company.

They appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court on Thursday where it was heard the man killed during the shootout in which Jerome Booysen was wounded the day before had been at the court when Colin Booysen appeared the week before.

Modack and his co-accused are expected to go on trial in November.

How the latest attack on Booysen unfolded

Jerome Booysen had been in a Spur in a Kuils River mall on Wednesday afternoon when one or two men had approached him. One opened fire and Jerome Booysen was wounded in the left arm, but the firearm then jammed.

The man with the jammed gun was shot in the head. A 9mm Beretta was found at the scene with five cartridges after the shooting.

Sources say the jamming of the firearm may have saved Jerome Booysen's life and is what resulted in the man being killed.

READ: Jammed gun prevented Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen from being further wounded - sources

A relative of Jerome Booysen's was arrested in connection with a firearm at the hospital he was in and was later released from custody.

Firearms that were seized from two of Jerome Booysen's relatives had also been returned.

There has been no official word on why Booysen has been repeatedly targeted or who has been behind the attacks. However, a few unconfirmed theories have developed over the last months.

Theory 1 - Young Gifted Sexy Bastards and Hard Livings causing ructions

In November 2016 Craig Mathieson, the night manager of Hotel 303, which is situated in Sea Point and which belonged to Lifman, was murdered.

During Modack's bail application in the Cape Town extortion case, which stretched from December 2017 to February this year, the investigating officer Charl Kinnear said there had been "an altercation" between Colin Booysen and Lifman.

Colin Booysen had then, according to Kinnear, organised with Fields, a co-accused in the extortion case, to "take care of the night manager". 

"Ashley Fields then arranged for the hit and the people was recruited by him (sic)," Kinnear said.

He said members of a gang – the Gifteds, the shortened name for the Hard Livings-linked Young Gifted Sexy Bastards, as having carried out the murder.

Neither Fields nor Colin Booysen have been charged with Mathieson's murder.

The suspicion that the man killed in Wednesday's shootout was a Hard Livings gangster has led some with ties to policing and underworld circles to believe that some members of the Hard Livings are trying to bolster themselves to make inroads in nightclub security. 

It is understood, based on information from a source with close knowledge of what has been transpiring that a senior Hard Livings member has held meetings with suspected underworld figures wanting to partner with them.

Theory 2 - Corrupt cops pulling strings

Since the nightclub security takeover in Cape Town started unfolding in March 2017, there have been constant allegations that certain police officers are working with suspected underworld figures.

During Modack's main bail application relating to the extortion charge in Cape Town, several claims were made about alleged police collusion and this application therefore became a platform for the airing of ructions within the police, leading some sources to say that tensions within police are swaying underworld activities.

During Modack's bail application Kinnear testified about several recordings.

READ: Cops and corruption claims: Police 'tensions' emerge in Modack extortion case

One such recording, he said, was a meeting between Modack, Major General Jeremy Vearey, the head of detectives in the Western Cape who was instrumental in Modack’s arrest, and former State Security Agency official Russell Christopher, who trained with Vearey in the ANC's intelligence structures prior to 1994.

In the recording, Modack said if there was ever a problem "Tiyo and Mbotho" could sort it out.

He was referring to Major General Mzwandile Tiyo, the Western Cape police's head of Crime Intelligence, and Major General Patrick Mbotho, a previous Western Cape head of detectives.

Kinnear testified that in another recording Modack alleged that Vearey was a 27s gang member who worked for a man named Red.

Modack, Kinnear said, had also claimed he and Vearey were on the payroll of Jerome Booysen and Lifman.

Colin Booysen's lawyer Bruce Hendricks had also claimed that Lifman controlled certain police officers.

Hendricks had also said there were several allegations against Vearey, including that Vearey had received money from alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield.

Stanfield was wounded in a shooting in Johannesburg in June 2017.

Theory 3 - Upset 28s gang

In August 2017 Brian Wainstein, known as the international "Steroid King", was shot dead in his Constantia home in one of the most sensational underworld killings to play out in Cape Town.

Four suspects – Cheslin Adams, Fabian Cupido and brothers Matthew and Sheldon Breet – were subsequently arrested in connection with the killing.

In the Wynberg Magistrate's Court, during the Breet brothers' unsuccessful application to be released from custody on bail, it was previously heard that Sheldon Breet used to be a police informant and was also allegedly involved in several illicit activities, including trading in steroids and rhino horn.

Last month it was heard in court that Cupido and Adams were apparent "associates" of the owner of a Cape Town tyre business.

According to the State, Matthew Breet and this businessman "discussed the possible assassination of the deceased" about a week before the murder.

Jerome Booysen, who has not been linked to the killing or charged for it, is believed to be an associate of this businessman.

Wainstein's murder, according to several sources, upset 28s gang members.

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