Steeped in Blood (32 page)

As I stood at the scene of the shooting, I did what any competent investigator should do – I looked around me. I noticed a whole row of houses some 200 to 300 metres away, so I walked up the road and started knocking on doors. At the second house, someone had seen the shooting. I inquired if anyone had taken a statement from them, and they said no.

On the evening of Kebble’s death, the domestic worker who worked at this house had been standing talking outside in the garden and had seen a big car drive slowly down the hill. This was unusual, as Kebble was known to be a man who had only two driving speeds: ‘flat out’ and ‘stop’. She saw the car rolling down the hill and come to a stop before she heard a succession of shots. Helpfully, she described the shots as ‘bang, bang, bang’, which told me that the weapon was cycling – firing one shot after another – as opposed to ‘bang, reload, bang, reload’. As a result of this evidence, I knew that the weapon was automatic and cycling properly. This narrowed down the field of who could have committed the shooting: it would have been someone in the security industry or someone with a guarding or anti-hijacking interest. The eyewitness saw nothing further. She ran inside the moment the shots were fired, fearing for her life. I was starting to put some of the pieces together.

How was it that Clinton Nassif had instructed the police to release the car even before the forensic team had had a chance to look at it? Nassif was part of the Kebble inner circle, and also had connections to Glen Agliotti. A rank-and-file police officer would never have authorised the release of the car, as it would have been a career-limiting move. I felt that someone in a very senior position of authority must have given the go-ahead for the car to be released. I put a spanner in the works and started asking questions, which led to a renewed effort to have the car released from Danmar Autobody, where it had still not been cleaned.

Suddenly, the police were non-cooperative and Leonie Ras stopped talking to me. The investigating officer, Charles Johnson, also clammed up on me. I was told that I was not allowed to examine the car and that I should leave the investigation.

I decided to pay a visit to the Kebble household, situated in Illovo, where I met with Kebble’s butler, Andrew Minnaar. He gave me a rundown of the events that had taken place in the hours prior to Kebble’s death.

At about 7 p.m., Kebble had met with a man called Dominic Ntsele, a spin doctor and Washington-trained lobbyist. Kebble had told Minnaar that he was planning to go out for dinner with a man called Sello Rasethaba, chief executive of Matodzi Resources Limited, Kebble’s BEE ‘flagship’. He also told Minnaar that he had a letter for Pahad – it could have been either Essop Pahad or his brother – and that Ntsele was in possession of this letter. Although he had said that he was going out for dinner, Kebble asked Minnaar to prepare a meal for him, which he and Ntsele ate around 7.40 p.m. By 8.15 p.m., the dinner was finished. Kebble called Minnaar over and asked him for an envelope, saying that he was going to deliver the letter to Rasethaba, who would give it to Pahad. Minnaar provided him with an envelope and Ntsele departed about ten minutes later. Kebble left while Minnaar tidied up the dinner dishes. When he had finished, Minnaar left for the evening.

There are three interesting aspects to Kebble’s behaviour that night. Firstly, Kebble never went anywhere without a jacket, yet that night he left without wearing or carrying one. Secondly, Minnaar noticed that Kebble had been preoccupied and had seemed agitated the whole evening. Thirdly, whenever Kebble went to visit someone, he was known always to take a good bottle of wine or Scotch with him. That evening he left with nothing.

What is the significance of these minute details? Cases are about little things; about the detail. People are creatures of habit, and everyone has their routine. When these habits are broken or the routine changes, there is a reason for it – and I want to know why. That evening, Kebble was doing things differently: he said he was going out for dinner, then changed his mind; he went out without a jacket; he was agitated; he left without a gift for his host; he drove slowly; and he stopped in a dark and dangerous place. As Minnaar had driven out the gate on his way home, about 100 metres down the road he had seen Kebble just sitting in his car, parked at the side of the road. Minnaar didn’t stop to ask questions – he did
not want to pry – instead, he went on his way. That was the last time Andrew Minnaar saw Brett Kebble. From there, Kebble proceeded to his assignation with death, a mere two or three kilometres away.

A couple of days into the investigation, there were suggestions that Kebble’s death had been the result of a hijacking. Yet things didn’t add up. Why would someone open their window for a hijacker, and how would that explain his drastic changes in routine and behaviour?

I then received a phone call from Alfred Koch, a forensic investigator for Liberty Life. He wanted to know if I was aware of the fact that Kebble had taken out two large life-cover policies a few months prior to his death, well within the suicide waiver period on all life insurance policies. This was the first I had heard of this. Koch wanted to know if anything seemed suspicious to me, but since I had not yet seen the post-mortem results, things appeared normal at that point. Warning lights were starting to flicker in my mind, however, and the events of the next few days brought the matter into focus.

I received a call from forensic accountant Danny Sabbagh, who asked me if I knew that a photograph of Kebble being baptised had been taken shortly before all of this happened (see
photo
). I discovered that Kebble had found the Lord in Peter George’s swimming pool a short while before his death.

Kebble’s business dealings had often been quite unorthodox, even dubious. I contacted Peter Skeat, a very successful mining engineer who had sold Kebble some shares in a coal-mining venture, for which Kebble never paid. There was a very large sum of money involved – hundreds of millions of rands – and Skeat took Kebble to court. Kebble lost on the first round. The case went to the Supreme Court of Appeal, and Kebble lost on the second round. It then ended up in court again. In the run-up to the court date, Kebble told Skeat to back off or he would make Skeat’s life a misery.

Skeat ignored the threat and told Kebble he would see him in
court. Peter Skeat returned from an overseas business trip shortly afterwards, and found a warrant for his arrest as he landed back on South African soil. He was arrested and locked up, despite the fact that no charge was brought against him. He was released shortly afterwards. Kebble must have arranged, possibly through Agliotti and Jackie Selebi, for Skeat to be ‘roughed up’ a bit so that he would be more amenable to doing business. But even more fascinating is that, shortly before his death, Kebble had called Skeat to make amends and seek forgiveness.

The picture suddenly started to slip into focus: Kebble had been taking out insurance policies – both for the here and for the hereafter. For the here, he took out two insurance policies, with his wife appointed as beneficiary. The joint proceeds of the policies were R30 million. For the hereafter, Kebble’s policy took the form of a baptism and attempts at making peace in his life on earth for the day when he had to answer for it.

I called Alfred Koch, asking him to disregard my comments to him previously, as I now believed Kebble’s death to have been an assisted suicide. All the hallmarks were there: Kebble knew people who could easily access the type of weapon that had been used, Clinton Nassif was involved, Selebi, perhaps, too – all facts pointing to a possible assisted suicide.

I then received a call from former High Court prosecutor Pietman Mostert, who had insight into the state matters. He asked me if I knew that there had been a warrant issued for Kebble’s arrest shortly before his death. I hadn’t known this. All the pieces now slotted into place: Kebble had run into debt problems of many billions of rands. He had been disempowered, in that he no longer had any influence in Durban Roodepoort Deep and the various other mining operations in which he had been involved – part of the rescue package of Investec to these businesses was conditional upon Kebble’s complete removal from any position of power.

So he was isolated, finding himself in a position where he had
no money and few friends. I found out that he had been trying to sell some of his properties, but the market was down and times were tough. It was obvious: if he was arrested, the whole pack of cards that was the Kebble empire would fall apart. There was no more room to manoeuvre – it is very difficult to act from a jail cell, or even to find an attorney to represent you if you do not have a substantial amount of money to offer. It would have been a high-profile case, and no attorney would have represented him without cash upfront. Suddenly all the attorneys who had surrounded Kebble when he had money would be nowhere to be found.

If Kebble went down, he would leave nothing but disgrace and poverty for his family. He had a wife and children to consider, for whom he needed to provide financially. Any money that came in would go into his estate, and his creditors would get first pickings. The only way to avoid this was to ensure that money was paid directly to his wife, bypassing the estate and creditors. In order for this to happen, she had to be listed as the beneficiary on his insurance policies. In the lead-up to his death, Kebble seems to have had good intentions and demonstrated some family values.

It astounded me that, despite my manifest warnings, Liberty Life and Discovery Life paid out the claims. If the case had concerned an ordinary person, they would most certainly have waited for the inquest. They would also not have paid if there was a hint of suicide in the air.

I went to see Judge Heath and his son, Marius, who listened intently to what I had to say about Kebble’s death. I told them that Clinton Nassif was right in the middle of this mess, and that the death was probably an assisted suicide; I didn’t think it was a hijacking, I said to them. I believed that higher authority was involved. Interestingly, Judge Heath just raised his eyebrows.

I finished my report and then received a call from Marius Heath, who informed me that Jackie Selebi wanted Judge Heath and me off the case. I agreed, saying that I would submit my report, but
that I wanted my account settled first – until then, the report stayed with me. It was about a month later, in early December 2005, when Willem Heath called me, wanting to meet. We met, and he told me that I could laugh off any chance of being paid for my work.

I never quite understood what Judge Heath’s involvement was in this whole matter. It later emerged that he, who worked for the Kebbles, was deeply involved in the Kebble–Agliotti–Selebi saga.

Since I hadn’t been paid for my work, I decided to talk about it – there was no confidentiality clause binding me – and I was interviewed extensively. A reporter for e.tv, in editing, called me a mad conspiracy theorist. I was a little taken aback by this, to put it mildly.

I contacted Liberty Life to see if they were interested in my report and any further investigation. They jumped at the opportunity, and I continued investigating on the insurer’s behalf. I obtained access to the affidavit submitted by Agliotti, in which he stated that Kebble’s death had been an assisted suicide. A man by the name of Mickey Schultz, as well as other characters, were named as having been involved in the plan. This affidavit confirmed exactly what I had said in my television interviews a year earlier – the e.tv producer had to eat his words.
^*

The story of Brett Kebble’s death leaves many unanswered questions. What was Willem Heath’s role exactly? In what way was Agliotti connected? Why was the involvement of these men not clarified? Why did Agliotti phone Selebi on the night of Kebble’s death? Was Selebi involved in the decision to release the car to Nassif?

Brett Kebble’s death was clearly his last great financial scam. His business deals were all smoke and mirrors: just about every law firm in Johannesburg was involved in his shady deals in one way
or another, yet none of them saw through the fraud and facade. And then Brett Kebble died just as he had lived – in a cloud of smoke and mirrors.

___________

*
See
Appendix H
for the 2010 revelations regarding Mickey Schultz.

‘[P]rediction of the unknown and unknowable is a cherished and often well-rewarded occupation.’

– JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH,

Canadian-American economist and author

What is a retired couple to do when they invest their life savings, only to find a few years later that some of their money has ‘disappeared’? If these funds are their sole source of income, it can cause more than a mild panic, particularly if there are no straight answers forthcoming from the company with which they invested. This was the problem facing Mr and Mrs Wentzel.

I have found myself in later life being more active in assisting people with claim settlements as opposed to investigating on behalf of insurance companies. Big business, and insurance companies in particular, spew forth wonderful advertising messages, but seem so reticent in delivering on these promises when push comes to shove.