Underworld At War: Who is Mark Lifman?
As news headlines and social media are abuzz with the murder of Mark Lifman, we try to piece together who he is exactly.
Lifman, a 57-year-old man from Fresnaye along the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town, has been clouded by controversy and regularly made headlines across the country. His links to the underworld were also no secret.
He was gunned down on Sunday in the parking lot of the Garden Route Mall in George.
Lifman is believed to have been shot five times and died on the scene.
A big question on everyone’s lips is how come a man who was always surrounded by security wherever he went, became a sitting target with no fire-power on the day he was taken out.
According to the Cape Argus, Lifman was allegedly lured to his death after receiving a call to go to the Garden Route Mall in George where he arrived without his bodyguards.
His alleged shooters were nabbed hours later in Uniondale and made their first appearance in the George Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Gert Bezuidenhout and Johannes ‘Johnny’ Jacobs were charged with Lifman’s murder.
During proceedings, the duo asked to be held in solitary confinement, as their case was postponed to November 13 for a bail information hearing.
The gunmen, driving a white VW Polo, shot Lifman and fled the scene. Video footage has subsequently surfaced and shows that they changed the license plates before they were arrested in Uniondale in the Western Cape.
Diverse dealings
While he continuously maintained to only be a businessman, Lifman was embroiled in many cases including murder. Lifman dipped his fingers in many pies including the property market, horse racing, the fashion industry, and private security.
At the time of his murder, Lifman was out on bail and expected to appear in the Western Cape High Court where he, the main accused, and several others, including the alleged leader of the Sexy Boys gang, Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen, is charged for the murder of steroid king, Brian Wainstein, an international steroid smuggler who was also wanted in the US.
Wainstein was murdered at his Constantia home in Cape Town in August 2017 while asleep next to his child and spouse.
Murder mastermind
In the indictment, the State alleges Mark Lifman was the mastermind behind Wainstein’s murder after he and the deceased “clashed over investments and property deals”.
Lifman was set to testify on Monday (the day after his murder) where he faces nine charges, which include murder, conspiracy to commit murder as well as contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).
Lifman was arrested on December 22, 2020, after he handed himself over to Cape Town police after a warrant of arrest was issued for him on December 15, 2020.
At the time of his murder, he was out on R100,000 bail.
According to the State, Lifman is alleged to have orchestrated Wainstein’s assassination three months prior to the killing, and was willing to pay R250,000.
Failed hit
He is also alleged to be behind the failed assassination of the alleged leader of the 28s gang, Ralph Stanfield in July 2017, who was a close associate of Wainstein.
Lifman is alleged to have paid R500,000 for the hit on Stanfield.
Child sex predator
In 2005, Lifman was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting seven underage boys and was acquitted in 2009.
In 2011, Lifman and Andre Naude were accused of running an illegal security company, Specialised Protection Services (SPS).
All 313 charges against the two were dropped in 2015.
‘Two factions’
In 2018, during the extortion trial of another alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack, details of ‘two factions’ were revealed. These factions were fighting for power to control the nightclub and entertainment venue security industry in Cape Town.
Lifman, Booysen, and alleged underworld kingpin Andre Naude, along with Booysen’s younger brother, Colin, are alleged to have started the ‘brotherhood’ in 2016 as the dominant grouping in control of the nightclub and entertainment venue security industry in Cape Town.
‘Brotherhood’ fallout
Things soon soured between the brotherhood where it is alleged that Colin accused them of stealing from him.
This is alleged to be what drove Colin to becoming allies with the ‘brotherhood’s’ opposition group, allegedly headed by Modack.
Lifman’s ‘hit list’
In court documents, it is alleged that in November 2017, Lifman offered to fund the assassination of the new group that included Colin, Modack, Jacques Cronje, Ashley Fields, and Carl Lakay. Others also on the ‘hit list’ were Emile Goodley and James Dalton.
In 2018, during an extortion trial where Modack, Colin, Cronje, Field and Lakay were the accused, it was alleged that Lifman had put a R20 million hit on Modack.
At the time, further testimony in court revealed both Lifman and Modack had high-ranking police connections, and both wanted each other dead.
Modack and his co-accused were subsequently acquitted of all charges in the extortion matter, however, before the matter was concluded, Lakay was gunned down.
Trouble ‘at the top’
Criminologist, Simon Howell told the Cape Times: “Mark Lifman was a feature of the Cape Town underground for many many years and had crossed many paths with many dangerous people, it surprises me he managed to not get shot for this long. Ultimately though, I sense that he crossed too many people’s paths considering the court case, his paths caught up with him.” He added that Lifman’s death was an indication that there’s turmoil “at the top”.
Days before his murder, Lifman obtained a draft court order from the Western Cape High Court to attach a Green Point property owned by former Beerhouse owner Randolf Jorberg amid an ongoing R1 million defamation claim.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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