A private VIP cavalcade believed to be transporting controversial steel magnate Rafik Mohamed was involved in a rush-hour road-rage incident on the M1 highway near Sandton that ended with his armed protectors allegedly shooting a 30-year-old doctor in the leg.
The attack, which involved “protection vehicles fitted with medical emergency lights”, has once again raised questions about the possible abuse of emergency lights by private security firms.
The Sunday Times can reveal that two men, employed as protectors by Johannesburg-based close protection company Pro VIP Medical and Tactical, have been charged with attempted murder and discharging a firearm in public.
Greg van Rooyen and Ruan Badenhorst appeared in the Alexandra magistrate’s court and were released on bail. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says they face multiple charges, including attempted murder, discharging a firearm in a public place, malicious injury to property, and reckless endangerment of people’s lives and property.
“The case has been postponed to June 9 for the appointment of a new legal representative and for further investigations,” the NPA said this week.
Dr Michael Jeff said he was driving to Morningside Mediclinic just after 5pm when the three-vehicle cavalcade, comprising two black BMW X7 SUVs fitted with red emergency lights and a black sedan, approached him from behind in heavy traffic.
The doctor claims he raised his hands to show he was unarmed, at which point the individuals ‘fired multiple gunshots at my vehicle’
In a police statement seen by the Sunday Times, Jeff recounts how the SUVs, which he identified as belonging to a VIP protection or personal security company, began flashing their headlights and demanding he move out of the way. When he couldn’t safely move owing to the volume of traffic, the situation escalated.
Jeff says that when the vehicles passed him in the emergency lane, the occupants of the first car rolled down their windows and started yelling and swearing at him. The confrontation became violent moments later on the Grayston Drive off-ramp, after he drove past the VIP cavalcade at speed.
“Two of the vehicles then moved aggressively around me,” Jeff stated, describing how one car slammed on brakes in front of him and another flanked him on the right, effectively blocking his movement near the bridge at the top of the off-ramp.
He says two men then exited the front and side vehicles and launched a direct assault on his vehicle, “smashing” his side mirrors and hitting his windows. One of them tried to open the doors of the car, and another struck the windscreen.
According to the statement, when Jeff tried to escape by driving his vehicle between the cars, colliding with the vehicle in front of him, the men drew firearms. The doctor claims he raised his hands to show he was unarmed, at which point the individuals “fired multiple gunshots at my vehicle”.
Jeff says he was shot in the leg after a bullet penetrated his car door, but he managed to drive to the hospital. He referred the Sunday Times to his attorney, Ian Levitt, who did not respond.
Mohamed, the VIP client allegedly being transported in the cavalcade at the time, is the owner of SA Steel Mills (SASM). The company is at the centre of a R1.1bn funding scandal involving the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) that has already led to the suspension of two IDC employees. A forensic report commissioned by the IDC raised serious questions about whether the business’s plant assets were inflated during key development funding phases.
Mohamed’s legal representative, Safraaz Laher, said the two arrested men were not employed by Mohamed.
“To the extent that any security services were provided, such services were provided through a third-party contracted security service provider,” he said. “Our client is not the owner, director or controlling mind of that security company, and does not accept responsibility for the alleged conduct of persons employed, engaged or controlled by that security service provider.”
Laher declined to comment on whether Mohamed was being transported at the time of the incident due to his “safety, privacy and dignity”. He said Mohamed denied any wrongdoing and did not accept responsibility for alleged conduct by third-party security personnel.
Regarding the IDC case, Laher said Mohamed “is not aware of any pending IDC investigation against him personally and objects to the conflation of an alleged road incident with unrelated IDC/SASM allegations”.
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