Biker clubs take national president to court

Pretoria - In the past members of motorcycle clubs would have settled their differences at a roadhouse, but today they seem to prefer the legal route.

In what is probably a world first, two members of the Ghost Riders Motorcycle Club Limpopo and Ysterberg (in Mokopane) are taking their organisation and its national president to court. They say they are fed up with national president Albert Janse van Vuuren.

They have been ousted from the club and want to be reinstated. The former presidents of these two regions said they could not wait to launch the matter through the ordinary court roll as the “Biker Brotherhood” was hosting a bash this weekend. If their clubs are dissolved, they will not be able to co-host this event.

Yster van Eeden, an advocate and until recently the regional president of Ghost Riders Limpopo, will ask the high court sitting in Polokwane on Tuesday to reverse the decision by Janse van Vuuren to take away their “cuts” - the leather jacket and club patch on the back of the leathers - and thus their status as presidents of their regions.

Opposing papers

Janse Van Vuuren is not only the man in charge of the club, but also a soapie star who played the role of a doctor in the popular Afrikaans series Binnelanders.

Lawyer Konrad Rontgen, who represents Janse van Vuuren, said they would file their opposing papers on Monday.

“This application is a first for me and I think worldwide," he said. “It is unheard of that a motorcycle chapter takes the national president to court because they are unhappy with a decision he took. In the motorcycle world the word of the national president is final.

"The cuts belong to the club and never become your property after you have been ousted from the club. To go to court and demand that it decides on ownership of your cuts is contra rules applicable in the motorcycle world. This case is similar to a child taking his parents to court because they refused him going to his matric farewell."

Family-orientated motorcycle club

But Van Eeden is bitter that his branch in Polokwane will now have to close down. It was founded in 2007 and is the oldest family-orientated motorcycle club in the region. He said things heated up during the April Ghost Riders meeting of all the regions when Janse van Vuuren said his word on all matters was final. There were, among others, disagreements regarding the members’ financial contributions being paid into Janse van Vuuren's bank account.

But Van Eeden said these matters were amicably resolved, so he thought. But he was told in August that Janse Van Vuuren was closing down the Limpopo and Ysterberg chapters. He said Janse van Vuuren phoned him and said “he is going to bliksem and f*** me up”.

“He instructed his biker friends in Limpopo to assault any members of the Limpopo and Ysterberg chapters and take their cuts.”

Van Eeden said court was his only hope of resolving these problems.

Pretoria News