NPA implements strategic and coordinated approach to tackling organised crime

15 December 2022

The NPA is ramping up its strategic approach to tackling organised crime. This week the Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions issued a racketeering certificate for Cape Town gang leader, Nafiz Modack and his 14 co-accused for a range of serious organised crime and related charges in the High Court of South Africa: Western Cape Division.

The State successfully obtained authorisation to institute a prosecution in contravention of sections 2(1)(e) and 2(1)(f) of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, Act 121 of 1998 (POCA). This process is the culmination of a lengthy and comprehensive racketeering investigation that commenced after the murder of Lt-Col. Charl Kinnear was attached to the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Lt-Col Kinnear was assassinated in front of his residence in Bishop Lavis, Cape Town, on 18 September 2020.

The State alleges that Modack is guilty of contravening section 2(1)(f) of the POCA as he managed the illegal operations and illegal activities of an enterprise from approximately December 2017 until September 2020, acting in concert and in common purpose with Zane Killian, Ziyaad Poole, Moegamat Toufeek Brown, Riyaat Gesant, Fagmeed Kelly, Mario Petersen, Jacques Cronje, Petrus Visser, Janick Adonis, Amaal Jantjies, Ashley Tabisher, Yaseen Modack, Mogamat Adiel Mukudam and Ricardo Anthony Morgan.

The pattern of racketeering activity, contained in the indictment, comprises over 3000 charges which include criminal gang activities, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, murder, intimidation, unlawful interception of communications in contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information (RICA), conspiracy to corrupt public officers in contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), defeating the administration of justice and money laundering, among others.

The racketeering prosecution is the result of several coordinated investigations conducted by the SAPS AGU and the DPCI.

This effective and strategic collaboration is a significant step towards bringing to justice the leading members of a highly organised crime gang that has terrorised Cape Town communities over a long time. It also means that the long outstanding process of seeing justice served for the family of Lt-Col Kinnear and the community at large is much closer to being realised.

Issued by Mthunzi Mhaga, NPA Spokesperson, 15 December 2022