By Fred Kockott
The nightclub security industry is ruled by thugs enjoy protection from police officers capable of corrupting investigations, says a mountain of a man who was a bouncer boss but now wants to shut down the industry.
Bible in one hand, gun in the other, security specialist Mike Bolhuis is a man on a mission to expose mafia-like control over a nightclub security industry turned corrupt.
Himself once a bouncer boss in the dock on charges of conspiring to commit assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, Bolhuis has been helping the police in investigate the security network of bouncers at clubs in Johannesburg and Pretoria for several years.
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'These are the guys who go out and kneecap people who owe drug lords money' "I could once say with pride that I had the biggest bouncer group in South Africa," says Bolhuis. "Then bouncers started getting into serious steroid use, drugs and alcohol abuse and are now caught up in territorial drug trafficking.
"Today the main guys at the door - moonlighting policemen included - are not just providing security at a club, but protecting bigger business interests linked to drug syndicates and the like," says Bolhuis.
"These are the guys who go out and kneecap people who owe drug lords money, or get roped into turf wars between competing tow-truck operators. They are the feet and arms for all the dirty work that needs doing.
"The press makes a hoo-ha about all this steroid-induced violence at clubs, but it goes way beyond that. These guys are bad, man, really bad," says Bolhuis.
With 25 years experience in "the bouncing business" and debt collection, Bolhuis claims to have evidence that the industry today is controlled by "a mafiosi-like syndicate, involved in drug-orientated rackets".
'Dockets disappear like you cannot believe' "These incidents, like what happened to that lightie outside Tiger Tiger in Rivonia at the weekend, are nothing compared with the bigger picture," says Bolhuis.
Bolhuis was referring to the near-fatal assault of 22-year-old Bradley Silberman and two other Wits unversity students outside the Johannesburg club at 2am last Sunday.
Granting R10 000 bail to one of the men who allegedly beat Silberman within inches of his life, Randburg magistrate Deon Pool sized up the accused, Ashley Ginder, before launching into a tirade.
"I'm tired of steroid-induced violent crowd control," said Pool.
"This is the third incident before me this year involving a Rivonia club. It's time the police were more visible. Maybe it's time to close down some of these clubs. If (Silberman) goes any further down the road, you're looking at culpable homicide."
Ginder is a shareholder in the Elite Security Group, which was - until the weekend's incident - contracted by Tiger Tiger in Rivonia to provide security.
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