On Tuesday, a member of the Terrible West Siders (TWS) gang testified that alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack ordered a hit on a Hawks officer in 2019.
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Nicolaas Heerschap was shot and killed on 9 July 2019 while reversing his Toyota Land Cruiser out of his driveway in Melkbosstrand, outside of Cape Town. He was taking his grandchild to school. At the time of his death, his son Nico was investigating Modack.
Modack and his 14 co-accused are on trial for 124 charges, including murder, attempted murder, corruption, gangsterism, extortion, illegal interception of communications, money laundering and the contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
During his testimony, an individual referred to as ‘Mr A’ provided details on Heerschap’s murder. According to him, Moegamat Toufeeq Brown arranged the hit. Brown is the alleged leader of the TWS gang.
Mr A further stated that he was approached by alleged TWS members Riyaat Gesant, Fagmeed Kelly and Mario Petersen on 15 June 2019. Before the meeting, Mr A bought two .38 pistols from someone in Mitchells Plain to protect himself.
‘While smoking with Petersen, he told me there is work that I must do. They were previously at the scene and didn’t carry it out. It’s [a] ‘Mangaung’ type of a mission — in gang language, meaning you will go to prison,’ he told the court.
He further stated that he then met with Petersen, Gesant and Kelly at Brown’s house, where he was informed about the murder plan. Mr A said that he was with Brown, Kelly and Petersen a day before the murder at a house in Woodstock when they heard a car hooting outside.
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He described it as a charcoal-black Mercedes-Benz, which was to be used to carry out the hit. ‘Petersen was the driver and Kelly the passenger in front. Gesant and I were in the back seat. We drove and parked the car behind the Caltex garage in Salt River,’ he said.
‘I was reminded by Brown the following day I must take out somebody so that they can get money, that they are going to work for a “baas”, which is going to be a lifeline job and that the boss is going to give us bulletproof cars.
‘When I asked Brown if the boss is a “minister”, he told me it is one of the big bosses. I told him, ‘Don’t worry, I’m wearing the number nine jersey and I will score the goal.’
He stated that Brown gave him R700 for petrol money for the job.
‘I was to be the shooter and Gesant the backup shooter. When we arrived at the scene, we drove past the house and stopped around a corner. I jumped out with Gesant behind me.’
‘I saw the vehicle [driven by Nicolaas Heerschap] idling in the driveway. Somebody walked to the car. When we arrived at the vehicle, it reversed halfway out of the driveway. I ducked behind the big wheel of the vehicle so that the driver could not see me. I crawled my way to the driver’s side and fired two shots through the driver’s window.’
He said the vehicle then jerked forward, then backwards and hit a tree. That’s when he knew the driver was deceased. However, he said, he was not aware that he had killed the target’s father and not Nico Heerschap himself.
When prosecutor Blaine Lazarus asked Mr A how he felt when he realised that he had shot the wrong person, he responded that he was angry. ‘Ek was kwaad [I was angry]. Brown told us that everything went according to plan, but we shot the wrong person.’
‘Before the shooting, the shooter was supposed to get R60 000. Brown told us the man who is doing the shooting was doing it for the TWS.’
However, Mr A and his alleged accomplices did not get paid on the day of the murder. He says when he asked why, he was told it was ‘because of the boss’.
‘I asked Brown who is the boss. He said the boss is Nafiz Modack. I don’t know Modack, I have never met him and only saw pictures of him in newspapers,’ he stated.
He added that those involved in the murder were paid R25 000 after Ziyaad Poole, a co-accused allegedly part of the ‘Modack Enterprise’ visited Brown’s home accompanied by another person.
As reported by the Daily Maverick, TWS gang members reportedly destroyed the Mercedes-Benz after the Hawks allegedly identified it as the car at the murder scene. According to Mr A, he and Petersen torched the vehicle after dousing it in petrol near Monwabisi Beach in Khayelitsha.
Mr A entered a plea and reached a sentence agreement with the State in April 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of Heerschap, suspended for five years.
He also received 10 years for the illegal possession of a firearm, 10 years for the illegal possession of ammunition, five years for involvement in gang activities, and five years for conspiracy to commit murder. These sentences were to be served concurrently.
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