Travel with a purpose
November 27, 2017
Designed to do good
February 26, 2018
Jacques Pauw The President’s Keepers
In his exposé revealing the deeprooted, widespread corruption and state capture that plagues the South African government, Jacques Pauw has identified the cabal that eliminates President Jacob Zuma’s enemies and purges government of upstanding officials. The following extract from a chapter of The President’s Keepers deals with Cape Town gangster Mark Lifman and how SARS, under the leadership of Tom Moyane, let him off the hook for his R388-million tax bill.
In the shadow of one of the world’s natural icons – Table Mountain – lurks a web of sleaze and skulduggery, ruled by nightmarish mobsters and ruffians.
Many have relocated from far away to peddle their trade in narcotics, women and bouncers on the shores of Cape Town. Some have settled in idyllic Camps Bay or Clifton while others trade from seaside flats in Sea Point and Three Anchor Bay.
Their nicknames often give away their origin: Hoosain “the Moroccan” Ait-Taleb and Yuri “the Russian” Ulianitski. After Yuri died in a hail of bullets, Igor “the New Russian” Russol took his place. They have in turn merged with local gangsters to form one of the most feared criminal gangdoms in the world.
