A violent, ongoing feud between two of South Africa’s biggest motorcycle clubs has degenerated into a racial war, with the MAC’S club finalising a complaint to the equality court after some of its members were allegedly called the k-word.
MAC’S and Crusaders members have been at loggerheads for almost a year, with emotions spilling over in northern waterholes and fists flying from Rustenburg to Pretoria. At the heart of the beef are claims that the Crusaders club poached MAC members.
The incident that sparked the court action happened on March 25 at Hennie’s sports bar and restaurant in Montana, Pretoria — a popular biker venue.
Conrad Seabi, the coach at the Brothers in Arms MMA gym in Sunnyside, which operates under the auspices of the MAC’S, said they were asked by the club’s president Mannetjie Geyser to go to the pub when an altercation with the Crusaders broke out.
“When we arrived, there were about 100 riders, tow-truck drivers and police on the scene,” Seabi told the Sunday Times. “A lot of the Crusaders were wearing bulletproof jackets and carrying automatic rifles.
“Mannetjie asked us to protect the customers. We did not carry weapons,” Seabi said.
Emotions escalated and insults started flying. “They called us the k-word and said the MAC’S were maid f*ckers because they were hiding behind us. This happened in front of police from the Pretoria North station but they did nothing,” Seabi said.
It is understood that the evening’s dispute kicked off when a former MAC’S member, Pierre “Whitey” Terblanche, walked into Hennie’s.
Geyser is one of the original six MAC’S founding members from 1980. He claims to be the oldest founding member of a motorcycle club in the world who is still riding and says the club has about 2,000 riders in its 164 chapters across South Africa, Swaziland and Namibia.
“The three big clubs — Hell’s Angels, the MAC’S and the Crusaders — have all adhered to the alliance [Tri-Alliance] between us, but we have now ended our participation,” Geyser told the Sunday Times this week.
He believes the Crusaders have broken the alliance. “The national president of the Crusaders, Mark Groenewald, bought their motorcycle club for millions. They then started actively recruiting our members.
“It is accepted in biking and under the alliance that if a rider is in bad standing and kicked out, another club cannot take that rider in. At best, there must be a cooling-off period,” Geyser said, adding that the Crusaders had taken in two MAC’S members after they had been declared to be in bad standing and kicked out.
He said the two had been kicked out after refusing to take a polygraph test. They were accused of conspiring to initiate a takeover, not paying back loans made from other members, extortion and providing police with false information about illegal substances and firearms in a bid to get rid of a fellow member.
Terblanche has denied these claims.
In an interview at the Crusaders clubhouse in Selby, Johannesburg, this week, also attended by Crusaders presidents Mark Groenewald and Freddy Fourie, Terblanche said he had never been kicked out of MAC’S.
“I was shot in the stomach in a biker fight some time ago. I died four times on the operating table and was in a coma. The MAC’S did fundraising for my medical costs. Later, when I came out of hospital the MAC’S gave me a bill for more than R1m. This is where the original trouble started. How can they expect me to pay for something that was done while I was in a coma?”
He admitted attending the meeting in which a polygraph was requested — “but we all talked the thing over and shook hands, no poly was needed.”
“But the entire situation left a bad taste in my mouth and I resigned. I was put in bad standing only after I resigned.”
Groenewald denied his club was causing trouble. “At Hennie’s it was their guys who wanted to take on Whitey. Whitey tried to avoid the trouble by leaving, but then he saw them gang up on another guy and he turned back. He had to remove his helmet to answer my call because he was already on his bike.
The MAC’S are and have always been bullies. This entire series of incidents happened because for once someone is standing up to Mannetjie and his MAC’S
— Mark Groenewald, Crusaders president
“The MAC’S are and have always been bullies. This entire series of incidents happened because for once someone is standing up to Mannetjie and his MAC’S,” Groenewald said. “There are no real issues between our members on the ground. The dispute is between our two national tables.”
Groenewald claims the MMA fighters were also armed during the Hennie’s standoff.
“They had pistols in their belts which they flashed to our guys. In the end, we believe the MAC’S should clean up their house. We don’t believe in a legacy of bullying, we believe in biking,” Groenewald said.
MAC’S lawyer Madeleine Kruger- Oosthuizen confirmed the plan to go to court.
“Public name-calling and unfounded allegations, especially when motivated by bias or intended to undermine the dignity of an association, cannot go unchallenged.
“We are confident that the equality court is an appropriate forum to address these serious violations and to affirm the principle that no entity, whether individual or organisational, is above accountability,” she said.
“We can confirm that we have received instructions from our client to proceed with this application, and [it] shall be dealt with in due course and with the necessary urgency.”
Since Terblanche and another biker had crossed the floor, several run-ins between the MAC’S and the Crusaders followed.
A recent incident took place at the Red Door pub in Pretoria North.
Owners Shaun Pretorius and Johan van der Walt say turnover has taken a dive since issues started between the clubs.
“Our customers do not want to get caught in the crossfire so they are staying away,” Pretorius said. “Before this trouble started we did about R25,000 to R30,000 on an average Saturday. Now we are lucky if we do R20,000. Last Saturday we did R17,000.”
They reached out to the Crusaders’ national sergeant at arms, Piet Jonker. “Piet said he would send a message out to their structures to tell them that, patch or no patch, they cannot come to the Red Door until this situation is settled.”
But this didn’t last. “Near the end of May a group of Crusaders came in and another fight broke out. The Crusaders guys told us they were not fighting inside the bar, but we have cameras so the customers see what happens outside.
“We are a biker-friendly but neutral bar. As long as the bikers respect that, we can do business together,” Pretorius said.
The business has now resorted to hiring security. “This is costing us R2,800 a week — R1,400 for two bouncers on Friday and two on Saturday. This is money we don’t have.”
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