On the 22nd of August 2008 at around 13h00, I received an HP notebook with TAG number: cnd6500jhy, for repair. The notebook was state of the art, and I identified the tag as a State issued laptop. Within the hard drive I discovered information that it belonged to the deputy minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba. I realised that this was a stolen notebook, and I used the information I had recovered from the hard drive to contact Gigaba.
He sounded surprised when I asked him if he was missing a laptop. After I explained to him who I was and what I did, I also asked him if he had reported it stolen since it had been missing for 6 months, according to him. He had not reported it stolen, and he asked for the details of the person in possession of it.
After informing him of the details of the person in possession of the laptop, Gigaba informed me that he knows that person and that I should not arrest him. He said he would handle the matter internally.
According to him, a senior person from his office would drive from Pretoria to collect it. His name was Thami Msomi, Gigaba’s chief of staff of the home affairs in Pretoria.
On 26 August 2008 at 14:08, Thami Msomi arrived at my store, and I recorded the conversion on video. In the recording, Gigaba’s chief of staff can be heard trying to bribe me in order to keep the incident quiet. He also asked me to sell him recovered stolen computers, even though he knew this was illegal. He also asked for Booysen’s phone number in order to personally call him and recommend me for a promotion.
Another interesting point was that within the laptop I come across photos of graduates posing with AK47s. I was aware that the possession of AK47s was illegal in South Africa, so I confronted Gigaba about this photo. He sounded nervous, and he could not give me any logical explanation regarding this photo. I reported the above to my commanding officer, Director Booysen, and asked to open a formal investigation into Gigaba, as I was aware that his state-allocated laptop was missing for over 6 months and he had failed to report it stolen, as well as the photograph with AK47s.
Booysen instructed me to let it go. I disobeyed his instruction and went to the newspapers in order to make an external public disclosure via media, and the article was published on the 28th August 2008. (broken link)
New development:
“As of 2024, there has been a systematic removal of the published articles linked on my website. The site listed above was found to have been erased. However, with the assistance of web archive.org we have successfully recovered all missing and original articles. This action by compromised South African journalists and their accomplices to erase history further substantiates my claims.”.
Here is the recovered publication link exoising minister Gegaba,who a few years later on, he was further implicated in serious corruptions at the Zondo’s Commission Inquiry
During my initial investigation into the minister’s laptop, its recovery, and after I had personaly communicated with the minister over the phone and the internal disclosure of the incident to Booysen, I started receiving death threats via an sms, as well as calls. Had Booysen allowed me to proceed with my investigation into Gigaba and a case of corruption opened at the time ( 2008 ), Gigaba’s political career might have taken a different turn and the Zondo commission would have one less headache to deal with.
I made another public disclosure externally via media regarding harassment and unfair lack of promotion due to corruption and race. This was also published a day later, on the 29th August 2008. (Broken link),
New development:
“As of 2024, there has been a systematic removal of the published articles linked on my website. The site listed above was found to have been erased. However, with the assistance of web archive.org we have successfully recovered all missing and original articles. This action by compromised South African journalists and their accomplices to erase history further substantiates my claims.”.
Here is the original recovered publication link
The interesting part was that Booysen himself, as well as other high-ranking white police officers, had informed me that “my long overdue promotion was rejected because of my race.” Booysen had advised me to call a journalist that he had influence over (Barbara Cole) and report this to the media. I did so.
Little did I know at the time that such action would be classified as an “external reporting disclosure via media,” and I should have been protected under the Whistleblower Public Disclosure Act nowadays.
After those two publications, that ran a day apart and publicly disclosing that I was thinking to resign the folowing day, Dir. Booysen sent his men to my home the very next day after the publications ran and on an early Saturday morning, with no warning whatsoever in order to “suspend me. Such action was clearly violating internal police policy, becuase I had never receiced a 30 days warning of intention to be suspended.
I recognized this pattern of intimidation as an attempt to further silence me via an alleged verbal and illegal suspension after I had gone to the newspapers and made a public disclosure that I was considering resigning due to corruption and racial discrimination in the police force.
His strategy was to temporarily remove all my protection and privileges as a member of the police forces elite unit, including my police gear and State firearm, in order for me to be vulnerable and an easy target for criminals. Knowing that something nasty might happen to me, I had a camera ready and videotaped the alleged suspension. Within one of the attached videos (Timeline 2:44), I can clearly be heard saying that I planned to resign because I was sick and tired of corruption and a lack of promotion in the police force, and on the second video after the incident of the intimidation by a verbal suspension, a high-ranking director urged me to stay as my work in the police was needed. Also on a third video attached, Captain Adele Sonnekus made a call to Pretoria headquarters in order to protest for me not getting promoted as well as praise my good work as a police reservist.
Director Booysen, however, was not planning to let me leave the force. I was a liability for him and the rest of the unit, as he was aware that over the years I had collected information and evidence that would compromise them. Booysen was the main character that informed me previously that I will not get promoted due to my race, that this is a big problem that he is facing with his white detectives not getting promoted, and that I should take the story to his contact at Daily News, Barbara Cole.
On September 2008, Booysen called me and told me that he would make the whole problem disappear by writing a letter to the head of the reservists, Director Kennedy, and he faxed me a letter from his office on September 8th, 2008. After I received the letter in my office, Booysen arrived at my store, where he made some handwritten corrections on it, and he dictated to my wife the wording in order to rewrite it from my own letterhead. I played along as to stall, although I was already in the process of secretly making arrangements to go in to exile with my wife to Europe for our own safety.
I emailed the above letter that was dictated and prepared by Booysen to Dr. Kennedy on September 18, 2008.
The reply I received from the South African police force was not what I expected.
Apparently the police did not want me to leave the force.
The above facts are crucial as they prove that the articles containing accusations against myself, published by Noseweek issue # 174, March 2014 were in fact a blatant lie and a clear attempt by Booysen and his corrupted journalists to character assassinate me, in order to discredit me as a witness for the prosecution.
“Noseweek’s own research has revealed that some years back, when Danikas went to the press, accusing the police of being racist for not promoting him, Booysen suspended him for bringing the police into disrepute. When, subsequently, Danikas attempted suicide after his girlfriend left him, Booysen had his police firearm withdrawn and ordered his dismissal from the Police Reserve Service. He has since emigrated to Greece, leaving a host of angry creditors behind him.”
For the record I have never tried to commit suicide and my girlfriend at the time never left me – far from it, in fact she became my wife. It is also a blatant lie, that Noseweek repeats without providing a shred of evidence, that I left a host of angry creditors behind. The Noseweek allegations are complete fabrications made up by Booysen.
Evidence:
Collection of Deputy Minister Gigaba
Intimidation by verbal suspension
High Ranking Police Director urged me to stay as a Reservist ( Transcript )
Captain Sonicus protests for the lack of my promotion
By then I was aware that something bad would happen to me, since in the same year I had been attacked and injured at my store by criminals (Video 1, Video 2) my home was broken into in a suspicious manner ( Video 3, Video 4 ) there was a drive-by shooting at my store, and I was receiving many death threats.
I had also sought advice and help from a close friend of mine, South African Ambassador Shirish Soni, who was also my neighbour and held a senior position at SARS. He looked into the matter I had reported to him regarding the atrocities committed by the Cato Manor police unit, as well as Booysen himself. Soni warned me that I was in serious danger; as those people were extremely dangerous and corrupt, he was concerned and advised me to leave the country for my own safety. Here is an email confirmation from Ambassador Soni.
Another friend of mine that I confided in was Commissioner Patrick Brown. My wife and I had become good friends with him and his wife Tilly, and we regularly socialized over weekends since we lived walking distance apart. When I confided in Patrick my concerns regarding the Cato Manor Unit as well as of Booysen, he became very distressed. The next day my wife received a phone call from his wife Tilly, informing her that “Pat was having sleepless nights over thinking of Booysen harming us and that Pat was very afraid of Booysen, even though he had a higher rank than him.” She insisted that she and Pat needed to come to visit us urgently. When they came over, Pat and Tilly were visibly anxious and expressed their fears, telling us “to be extremely careful of Booysen, that he is a very dangerous man, to be careful who to trust, and that they were very concerned about our safety.” We took their warnings and concerns extremely seriously, knowing the high rank position that Commissioner Brown held.
Sadly, Johan Booysens’ own family had warned me many times that “he was a very dangerous man, and he had harmed the lives of many good people”.