The prosecution is hoping that a former 28s gang member will help to decipher prison gang language in the ongoing murder trial of slain “Steroid King” Brian Wainstein.
Alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen and 11 others are facing a slew of charges at the high court in Cape Town, including Wainstein’s 2017 murder in his Constantia home.
Booysen and his co-accused were charged alongside controversial businessman Mark Lifman and another alleged underworld figure, Andre Naude — both since killed.
This week judge Vincent Saldanha, in a trial-within-a-trial to decide whether certain evidence can be admitted, ordered that a former gangster be brought in to interpret the language used in 38 intercepted phone calls. The witness, authorised to use the pseudonym “Mr A”, cannot be named.
The prosecution spent most of Wednesday establishing why Mr A qualified as an expert in prison gang language.
He told the court he was a former member of the 28s, inducted between 2009 and 2010, and that he had earlier been involved in street gangs under the late Colin Stanfield, uncle of alleged 28s boss Ralph Stanfield.
‘An entirely new language’Mr A provided the court with hybridised isiXhosa words used as prison code.
“I have since stopped with gang activities,” he said. He explained that Sabela was a made-up language used by inmates so that prison warders could not understand gang communication.
“That is the exact reason for Sabela,” he said. “It is used outside, but it is not permissible. The numbers should not exist outside because Sabela will be exposed. The number issued to you by your camp — you go out and build your family, not destroy it by using the language.”
He said gang members referred to themselves as ndorda — a misspelt version of the isiXhosa word indoda (man).
“When you leave prison, you know that you should stop using it,” he said. “These days a 10-year-old can speak Sabela due to the wrongdoings of the number.”
He said he was associated with the ntshonalanga (sunset), referring to the 28s, and that “80% of our conversation there will always be Sabela”. The prosecution sought to show the depth of his knowledge.
You can’t become a ndorda in the court cells. A ndorda is a man. You can compare the initiation to Xhosa culture. You die with the information a surgeon teaches you
— Mr AMr A said when he was first jailed, he was a frans — “a person who has no direction in prison, one who does not have a number”. He listed the main prison gangs as the 26s, 27s and 28s, and said court cells were known as the gat.
“You can’t become a ndorda in the court cells. A ndorda is a man. You can compare the initiation to Xhosa culture. You die with the information a surgeon teaches you,” he said, adding that he did not attend circumcision school.
The gang sharpens a knife in front of you so that if there’s any mistake in the road ahead, you may die by the same knife. Then the language escalates. You start going deeper. If you are a 28 and enter the cell, a person will approach you and ask gcwala kanjani and you will respond nongoloza. Nongoloza is a 28
He said he was approached to join the 28s and had to wait eight days before a mentor was appointed. The gang, he said, had two lines: “The silver line works with their mind, and the gold line are in the military — when they are told to do something, they do it without thinking.”
He said the initiation was like schooling.
“You are taught the alphabet in sub A [grade 1], you learn to put the alphabet together to make a word,” he said. The teacher, known as the papeta, teaches “the beginnings of the number, the principles”.
“You go to shower, receive visitors, you Sabela. You don’t have free time. When your teacher notices that you are ready, he takes you to the landdros [magistrate]. You can’t be a ndorda if you can’t recall what you were taught.”
He introduced the word igunya — authority — which he spelt goenya, symbolised by a star tattooed on a prisoner’s shoulder.
“Prisoners would kill to get a goenya, but nowadays it’s not the same. It’s about who you hang out with and what you did outside.”
He said 28s members “carry the whole camp on their bodies” with multiple star tattoos.
“The gang sharpens a knife in front of you so that if there’s any mistake in the road ahead, you may die by the same knife. Then the language escalates. You start going deeper. If you are a 28 and enter the cell, a person will approach you and ask gcwala kanjani and you will respond nongoloza. Nongoloza is a 28.”
Saldanha noted that Mr A’s testimony required a lot of concentration. “It is an entirely new language that we are trying to understand,” he said. “It is not an ordinary witness.”
Mr A was vague about the activities required for membership. Saldanha asked whether he had sought legal advice before testifying, warning he risked prosecution if he confessed to crimes.
“He says that to be a member, you have to obey instructions. He does not say he did not obey those instructions,” Saldanha said.
The matter was postponed to Monday to allow Mr A to seek legal advice about his testimony.
Booysen and his co-accused are facing close to 40 counts ranging from conspiracy to commit to money laundering, murder and corruption.
According to the charge sheet, Wainstein was an “alleged organised crime figure who traded largely in illegal steroids”.
Lifman allegedly clashed with Wainstein’s assistant over “investments and property deals”. Lifman was allegedly heard over the phone discussing Wainstein’s murder with one of the accused three months before the “Steroid King” was killed.
The trial continues.
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