Louis Liebenberg appears at Bronkhorstspruit Magistrates Court on 31 October in Bronkhorstspruit. He stands trial on 42 charges of fraud, theft, racketeering and money laundering. Picture: Gallo Images
Diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg claims Willem Petzer, the controversial Facebook activist who campaigns against farm murders, among other things, asked him for money to buy land and cattle in Namibia.
Speaking to The Citizen on Thursday from the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility where he is being held, Liebenberg said Petzer approached him for money to buy land and livestock in 2022.
According to Liebenberg, they then travelled to Namibia with Rejoice Zuma, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma. Liebenberg thought she could be a black economic empowerment partner in the business. “We went to look at land, and Willem told Rejoice that she should please keep quiet, as his white Afrikaans followers would not approve of him doing business with a black woman,” Liebenberg said.
However, according to Liebenberg and a reliable source close to him, the transaction never took place.
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Petzer’s account of what happened differs from Liebenberg’s.
Speaking to The Citizen on Thursday, he denied ever approaching Liebenberg for money. “Louis approached me and said he wanted to become involved with the work we do. At that time, I had no idea who he was.
“Money is crucial in the work I do and normally I would welcome something like this because money is very necessary to enable me to do this work. At that stage I was helping Marieta Wilhelm, a farmer from Namibia who was detained and accused of murder after she shot an attacker. We created a fund to pay for her legal representation.”
According to Petzer, Liebenberg said he would also come to Namibia so he can see how he operates. “He came with Rejoice, but none of them ever accompanied me while I was working on the case. As I understand, he had meetings with politicians.”
He quickly realised that Liebenberg was after his more than 200 000 followers on Facebook to get them to become a part of his diamond scheme, Petzer said. Liebenberg is currently awaiting trial for allegedly running a scam involving unpolished diamonds and fraud.
“After I realised his true intentions, I kept my distance. I then began to devote a large part of my time to warning people against Liebenberg, and helping victims of Liebenberg in various ways, under strong attack from Liebenberg on social media,” he concluded.
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