Turmoil in the underworld: Mark Lifman's assassination

This year the underworld was sent into turmoil after one of the alleged kingpins was assassinated. 

Mark 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, November 3, 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 remains how 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While the presiding judge conveyed his sympathies with the co-accused in the matter, the court case continued. 

The case of Lifman’s murder is set to continue. 

Bail hearings have been set down for December and this matter is expected to bring a lot of media attention in 2025. 

robin.francke@iol.co.za

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