Jerome “Donkie” Booysen claims the man accused of murdering top cop Charl Kinnear has also tracked his cellphone.
The alleged leader of the Sexy Boys gang has now challenged Zane Kilian to come clean about who hired him to carry out the hit, and believes the former rugby player can be linked to several high-profile murders in the Cape.
In a rare and exclusive interview, Booysen, 56, tells the Daily Voice that his phone has been pinged more than 500 times since 2018.
Booysen, who describes himself as a businessman and property agent and denies links to the underworld and extortion rackets in Cape Town, says the tracking of his cellphone proves he is also a “target” although he claims to not know why.
Booysen says he became wys of Kilian’s alleged activities prior to Kinnear’s death.
“From about 4 September, my people informed me I was tracked by Kilian,” he says.
“The proof I have is that from 6 March to 18 September I was tracked 193 times by him.
“From 2018 till today it was 521 times but there are six people involved there.
“I don’t know Kilian and all I heard was that he was a rugby player but I have never met him before.”
Booysen says he tried to call Kilian but could not get through to his phone so he went to personally confront him in Joburg, where he was advised to rather “lay low”.
He says after Kilian, 39, was implicated in Kinnear’s murder, questions arose about who else was being targeted.
According to a source with insight into the Joburg underworld, Kilian is known as a “murder tracker”.
The source, who asked not to be named, says it is “common knowledge” that Kilian is hired to track people who have been marked for assassination.
Kinnear, who was an area commander for the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) was found slumped behind the wheel of his Toyota Corolla after he was shot three times in the head by a lone gunman outside his home in Gearing Road, Bishop Lavis, on 18 September.
A week later, Kilian was brought to the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court after being busted in Springs and was charged with murder and illegally intercepting Kinnear’s phone.
Before his death, Kinnear secured a guilty conviction for two members of The Firm gang and was the lead investigator in several high-profile investigations including the extortion case involving nightclub security boss Nafiz Modack, the murder of top criminal lawyer Pete Mihalik and a firearm licensing fraud case which led to the arrest of cops in Gauteng.
Kilian has been linked to Modack, after Modack posted pictures of Kilian on Facebook in March, with a message: “All JHB debt collectors must go via Kilian, call him”.
Booysen says this message intrigued him and was part of the reason why he went to Joburg to look for Kilian.
“I owe nobody nothing, so if he is doing debt collections, why is he tracking me 193 times?”
Describing himself as “old school”, Booysen warns those who plotted Kinnear’s death using cellphone tracking are “f***ed” and he believes more people will be caught.
“Hulle het die nuwe technology, dis hoekom hulle gef*k is; werk eerder old school,” he says.
“This is not just an underworld thing, there is a bigger picture.
“They are going to discover a lot of things with this tracking thing.
“There are a lot of murders and attempted murders that are going to be solved now.
“Even with this extortion (allegations) things are going to come to an end now.
“The police just have to do their work right but there are too many guardian angels,” he says, referring to vuil cops.
Booysen reiterated reports that Kinnear was on the brink of exposing various underworld figures and senior cops who were working together and says: “He was too close to the truth”.
After being shot six times in just two years, including at Cape Town airport and a popular mall, Booysen says despite being a target, he isn’t living in fear.
He has lost a kidney in one of the numerous attempts on his life.
“Of course [there is a target on my back] after being shot six times, but because I am wakey wakey en hulle weet ek het ’n vuurwapen at all times.
“Hulle weet ek is vinnig met guns. Ek gaan vir jou. I was like how many times, ‘next’?
“I am not saying I am a hero, I am just blessed.”
Booysen believes his movements were being tracked during the attempts on his life, and says he is looking into whether the attacks are linked to the pinging.
Booysen also denies being part of extortion rackets in Cape Town.
He says several years ago he, along with businessmen Mark Lifman, André Naudé and his brother Colin operated security companies but says this was “a service offered, not a service imposed”.
He says the rackets are causing k** innie Kaap, adding there was no profit in it.
“Ek het nie die k** in my lewe nodig nie. Ek het businesses en ek is in properties.
“What is there in town for you? To extort people to go eat and drink for free?
“I don’t smoke or drink my entire life so for me that is not my nature. Wat moet ek met security maak? I don’t own security companies.”
Booysen says he does not believe Kilian’s claims that he was hired by a man named “Mohamed” to track his wife, and did not know it was Kinnear’s phone.
“Die f*kken Kilian moet net oepmaak. He is not the shooter but they used him as a tool.
“Vir wie het hy die tracking gedoen? As hy sê dis vir Mohamed, waar pas die ander mense in? Waar kom ek in?”
dailyvoice@inl.co.za