Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
‘Gangster link’ in Engen killing
Man shot dead at Gardens Engen allegedly a member of Hard Livings
THE Woodstock man murdered at a busy petrol station in Gardens last Saturday was allegedly a Hard Livings gang member, a claim his family has denied.
Toufiq Joseph, 23, was shot a number of times in the parking lot of the Orange Street petrol station. His alleged killer, David Forbes, 48, waited on the scene afterwards for police, who arrested him.
Forbes was released on R20 000 bail on Thursday. He had been refused bail in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, before the Western Cape High Court considered the matter on an urgent basis, and released him.
A motive for the shooting did not emerge in court proceedings this week, but a possible link that has been suggested is the Ultra electronic dance music festival, set to take place in Cape Town and Joburg next month.
Meanwhile, when Joseph was buried on Monday, several members of the notorious Hard Livings gang were present.
In addition, on the the afternoon of his burial, a message linking him to the gang was posted on the Facebook group, Manenberg Gangwatch. The latter has credibly described shootings in the gang hotspot.
It read: “The person who died… toufieq Joseph, he is a hard living from Woodstock, he was shot at a petrol station in cape town.” (sic)
A second post said Hard Livings leaders were at the funeral of “a fellow Hard Living”. This meant a planned meeting with rival gangsters to broker a truce could not go ahead.
“Clever kids, Dixie boys and ghetto’s is waiting on their return so thay can have a successful peace meeting,” the post ended.
When Weekend Argus contacted the Manenberg Gangwatch administrator, the resi- dent said a Hard Livings gangster, who did not want to be identified, had supplied the information. The administrator usually receives information from Manenberg residents about shootings and other attacks, then posts it on the group page.
Asked to comment, Joseph’s brother Kashief Joseph dismissed the idea of a Hard Livings link as “a whole lotta bulls**t”.
He did, however, confirm that Hard Livings gangsters were at his brother’s funeral.
“They stay around the corner from my mother (where Joseph also lived). We drove past them every day,” he said in explanation.
A source who knew the dead man was also adamant he was “not a gangster”. The source said he did not want to be named “out of respect for the (Joseph) family”.
But he suggested that Joseph may have been shot because “he was selling Ultra tickets that he got from a contact”.
Then he added: “But how can it be about the tickets? Why would you just kill someone over tickets? This guy (Forbes) is rich.”
Tickets to Ultra parties cost from R950 to R1 500, and Joseph had been selling them for less, the source said.
Forbes worked as a “production consultant responsible for site layouts” with Ultra, the event’s organisers confirmed this week.
This prompted speculation that he might have wanted to stop Joseph selling the tickets.
Asked to comment, Tony Feldman, organiser and owner of Ultra South Africa, said they did not know whether Joseph was selling tickets to their event. They would “have to await the results of the police investigation”.
He added: “Illegal ticket selling happens at almost every major South African and international sport and music event. It’s an industry issue.”
Kashief Joseph believes the shooting was planned.
“Somebody must have set him up,” he said, adding that when he last saw his brother, he had told him he was going to see a friend, and “I’m coming back now”.
The two brothers had been buying and selling cars, he said.
Earlier this week the magistrate’s court heard that Forbes paid an admission of guilt fine for common assault in 1996.
Forbes moved to Cape Town recently, and has been running a series of parties in Gauteng called H20. He also owned and was involved in other party venues.
A plumber by trade, Forbes cashed in on the party scene by securing various international DJs to play at his events.
In an interview with website JHB Live, he said his events cost up to R2 million to organise, with thousands of people attending. His company website indicates that no illegal substances or weapons are allowed at H20 parties.
Despite this, police in Boksburg North were called out to an H20 party in October 2013 after a shooting incident. A man was arrested for shooting someone and also hitting another person with a firearm.
Comments on the online Car Forum website this weekincluded:
“Why, if you have so much money, do you still do your own dirty work?” asked one registered user.
Another was more blunt: “Forbes in a spot of trouble. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer douchebag.”
Meanwhile, the court heard this week that the dead man was allegedly linked to criminal activity.
He faced a murder charge in the Cape Town Regional Court, as well as theft and housebreaking charges.
During court proceedings, it was revealed that four knives had been found in the Golf GTi that Joseph was driving on the day he was killed.
One of the knives had blood on it, but it has not yet been verified whether the blood is that of Forbes.
When Forbes was arrested he had a 4cm cut on his arm, and he said he shot Joseph in self-defence.
The Cape Argus reported this week that investigating officer Benjamin Mphulayana told the court Forbes was “standing next to the Golf holding the firearm, and then he fired a shot”.
“And then the accused opened the car (door) and shot another three shots at the deceased,” Mphulayana is reported to have said.