The murder of former Bafana Bafana star Marc Batchelor, the death of African Global Operations boss Gavin Watson and the heist targeting business mogul Johann Rupert top the unsolved crime mysteries of 2019.
The deaths and robbery occurred within weeks of each other:
- Batchelor was gunned down in July in the driveway of his Olivedale, Johannesburg, home by two people on motorbikes;
- Rupert’s Richemont vault at a Johannesburg business park was robbed by 15 armed men in August; and
- Watson died after he crashed into a bridge pillar near Joburg’s OR Tambo International Airport at high speed, also in August.
The murder of Batchelor, who ran a debt-collection business, was rumoured to be linked to an Israeli businessman to whom he was said to owe R3.5m — or to the theft of a tonne of cocaine from an Eastern European crime syndicate.
Batchelor died a day after Australian police recovered 384kg of cocaine, worth R1.4bn, from an excavator shipped from SA.
Sources told the Sunday Times that Batchelor and his former business partner, Serbian Ivan Djordjevic, were allegedly behind the theft of the cocaine. Gunmen with AK47s killed Djordjevic outside his Bryanston, Johannesburg, home in April.
Within days of Batchelor’s murder, his friend Gene Kotton was arrested for being in possession of his phone. Police later released Kotton, who is suing for wrongful arrest.
Warren Batchelor, the former soccer star’s brother, said this week he had heard nothing from police about the investigation. “It is horrible not knowing what is going on,” he said.
“Marc was not all bad. He had a good heart but had lost his way. I just hope he hasn’t been forgotten about.”
“Marc was not all bad. He had a good heart but had lost his way. I just hope he hasn’t been forgotten about.”
— Marc Batchelor's brother Warren
Watson’s death sparked speculation about whether it was an accident or intentional. With only R70 and a few loyalty and bank cards in his wallet, suspicions were raised over why Watson was heading to the airport just before 5am.
Named at the state capture commission of inquiry as a key figure in bribery allegations involving government ministers and senior officials, Watson died a day before he was to testify before an SA Revenue Service (Sars) inquiry into the tax affairs of his company, then known as Bosasa.
His former colleague and confidant, Angelo Agrizzi, delivered explosive testimony to the commission and Sars, putting Watson at the centre of a litany of corruption allegations, including allegedly smuggling R500m into offshore trusts through an elaborate tax-evasion scheme.
At the time of his death, Watson’s nephew Jarred Watson said the family were suspicious about the accident, claiming his phone had been taken from the crash scene.
Speculation also ran rife after robbers, including some who posed as security guards, spent nine hours breaking into a vault belonging to Rupert, one of SA’s wealthiest individuals. This year Rupert was estimated to be worth $5.9bn (R83bn) and was ranked as the second-wealthiest person in SA on the Forbes Rich List.
The robbers hammered their way through the wall of a vault owned by Richemont Luxury Goods (RLG) Africa at a Rivonia warehouse and made off with jewellery worth R300m.
RLG Africa is a subsidiary of Rupert’s company, Richemont, which is headquartered in Switzerland and is responsible for the global distribution of luxury jewellery including brands Montblanc and Cartier.
The Sunday Times understands none of the jewellery has been recovered and no arrests made, despite CCTV footage that shows the faces of several robbers.
A Richemont spokesperson declined to comment “as this is a police matter”.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brig Mathapelo Peters said Batchelor’s murder was still under investigation. “No suspects have been arrested. Police are not at liberty to comment further,” she said. She was unable to provide information on the Watson and Rupert investigations.
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