Cape Town - Ernie “Lastig” Solomon, who made a name for himself as the alleged leader of the 28s gang before becoming a rapper and actor, as well as dabbling in local politics, is also something of a property mogul with 13 properties registered in his name.
Most of these are on the Southern Cape Coast, including Kleinmond, the popular holiday destination.
But his property empire has attracted the scrutiny of investigators.
Weekend Argus understands the Kleinmond property, as well as Solomon’s properties in Bellville, Wellington, Clanwilliam and seaside towns Hawston, Fisherhaven and Vermont, form part of investigations by Sars and the police.
Asked about his properties and a Sars probe, Solomon this week said: “I know nothing about it. I don’t want to be involved.”
He said he would happily speak about being a Khoisan chief, but nothing else.
Solomon initially referred queries to Mark Fyfe, who produced a feature film in which Solomon starred, but he said he wanted nothing to do with newspapers. Fyfe told Weekend Argus he had no knowledge of Solomon’s personal affairs.
Solomon, allegedly one of the biggest abalone smugglers in South Africa, has been in and out of jail since he was 16 and has been acquitted of various crimes, including armed robbery and intimidation.
According to a policeman investigating Solomon, the 28s gang has established itself across South Africa, including even in the smallest of villages on the West Coast.
Sars spokesman Sandile Memela said: “Sars does not and cannot comment, as taxpayer confidentiality is an obligation imposed on Sars by Section 69 of the Tax Administration Act”.
Initially a prison gang, the 28s are firmly established outside jail walls.
In Solomon’s leisure time, he breeds and flies pigeons, attends Khoisan conferences and supports the coloured nationalist cause, including backing “gangster party” the Patriotic Front.
A director of Beach Road Properties and Groovetown Productions, Solomon has a bond of R238 000 with FirstRand Bank and R126 000 with Absa.
He paid R350 000 for a property in Wellington, R850 000 for the one in in Vermont, R400 000 for his Bellville home and R500 000 and R485 000 for two properties in picturesque Fisherhaven.
The Kleinmond property cost only R7 700 and he also obtained properties in Hawston cheaply - buying one for R1 000 and another for R2 500. Three relatives who share his surname own another 13 properties, mainly in Hawston.
Solomon has never had a formal job. His CV includes having been a 28s general and former co-leader of The Firm, a grouping of gangs that included Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie.
He released a feature film about his life in 2013 - A Lucky Man, written and directed by Gordon Clark and screened in cinemas across South Africa. Solomon visited Cannes twice - in 2012 and 2013 - to promote the film. Clark, whose photographs of Solomon were exhibited in 2011, in an interview with the Mail & Guardian described him as a “notorious Godfather Al Capone kind of character” with a “weighty reputation”.
Solomon has also ventured into hip hop and released CDsobn which he raps in Sabela, a prison language. One of these CDs is called Sabela die nomber van 6,7& 8 - referring to the prison number gangs 26, 27 and 28s.
He “salutes”people and encourages them to “defend” the number, saying the number was “not only for me and you, my broer, but for all the guys”.
Police identified him in the 1990s as one of the “Big Five” untouchable underworld bosses in the Western Cape. Solomon has said he had 37 years’ gang experience, had done “gruesome things” and was known in his youth as “Ernie the Terrible”.
His daughter - one of his eight children - was shot in the leg when she was 12 months old, in an attack by vigilntes.
Solomon has said: “I always get blamed for abalone smuggling; somebody probably saw me standing next to people who were eating abalone. It’s the same as me standing next to dagga smokers. It doesn’t mean I smoke dagga.”
Weekend Argus