Johannesburg - The self-confessed triggerman in Brett Kebble’s murder, notorious underworld figure Mikey Schultz, has been named in the Dave Sheer Guns scandal.
Earlier this year, The Star revealed that the arms trader, the biggest in South Africa and Africa, was being investigated by numerous state departments amid allegations of police bribery.
The director of the company, Gareth De Nysschen, and general manager Efthimios Demis Karamitsos are appearing in the Lenasia Magistrate’s Court on charges of dealing in stolen military ammunition.
Dave Sheer Guns attorney Martin Hood has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying one witness, an ex-employee, was mentally unstable and involved in a vicious corporate espionage attack on the company.
It has been revealed in court that aside from the military police, the Hawks, Crimes Against the State, the Anti-Corruption Unit and national conventional arms control committee were all involved in investigations against Dave Sheer Guns.
This week, in an affidavit before court, De Nysschen said the Hawks had informed his attorney that their investigation had stalled.
However, it was revealed in The Star that the witness had said in an affidavit that she had personally paid bribes to the head of the Central Firearms Registry, Brigadier Mathapelo Miriam Mangwani, who was nicknamed “Mama”. Mangwani was later suspended by the police.
Mangwani refused to comment on the allegations.
Chad Thomas, an independent organised crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, said he had been aware of inquiries into employees of Dave Sheer Guns conducted by senior investigators.
The investigations, he said, included whether Dave Sheer Guns had allegedly assisted Schultz and other controversial figures allegedly linked to organised crime.
Hood refused to answer to specific allegations about Schultz, saying he did not have sight of the affidavit and, therefore, refused to comment.
In the affidavit, the witness said Schultz visited the gun shop in Bramley on “an extremely regular basis and spent a lot of money there”.
The affidavit says the witness was asked to help Schultz with application forms for firearms.
She said she completed the forms, but De Nysschen and a lieutenant-general from the firearms registry completed the process and Schultz’s licences were approved.
Last year, The Star revealed that Schultz was issued with five firearms on December 5, 2011. The firearms were a Vektor rifle, a Colt pistol, a 9mm Glock, a 9mm Astra and a .40 S&W Taurus.
His friend Nigel McGurk was issued with four firearms.
The Firearms Control Act states that only applicants who are not inclined to violence be granted a firearm licence. Schultz, who is a former Hell’s Angel and Elite Security Services kingpin, has a long history of violent behaviour, and has been implicated in killings and assaults on numerous occasions.
After the stories appeared revealing that he had weapons, Schultz then handed them in to police.
However, in recent months, Schultz has been spotted carrying firearms in public.
Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said the police were investigating.
“The firearms surrendered by Mr Schultz last year are the subject of a section 102 investigation to determine his fitness to possess firearms and this process is expected to be concluded within the next two months,” said Makgale. “These firearms are still in the possession of the police.”
Makgale said the police were also investigating whether Schultz had been seen with firearms recently.
Schultz’s response to the allegations was: “Guns don’t kill people… It takes good sight alignment, sight picture and trigger control.”
Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, who helped investigate Dave Sheer Guns, said he was shocked that more than a year after providing “prima facie evidence of corrupt cops at the rank of brigadier, they are still walking around the streets as if they’ve done nothing wrong”.
“Meanwhile, we have weapons in the hands of organised criminals and terrorists. It begs the question as to whether certain of the cops investigating the corrupt cops are up to the job.
“I have first-hand knowledge of several cases where gangsters have been armed through corrupt means, and they have used those weapons to commit crime,” said O’Sullivan.
The Star