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OVERVIEW | Liebenberg’s bail hearing: Ponzi allegations, MK connections and Khoisan claims
Liebenberg, his wife Dezzi and seven others face 42 charges linked to an alleged diamond scam.
Liebenberg, his wife Dezzi and seven others face 42 charges linked to an alleged diamond scam. Picture: Screengrab
After a dramatic appearance in court on Thursday during his wife’s bail application, diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg started his bail application in the Bronkhorstspruit Regional Court on Monday.
A source close to the case told The Citizen on Monday that Liebenberg has decided to represent himself.
Liebenberg, Dezzi, and seven others stand trial on 42 charges of fraud, theft, racketeering, and money laundering.
They were arrested by the Hawks on 22 October at the Tonino restaurant at the Benoni Country Club. By the next day, nine suspects had been arrested.
The group is accused of running a scam involving unpolished diamonds and fraud.
Case postponed
17:05 The case is postponed until Thursday when Liebenberg will be cross-examined by the prosecution.
Remorse for outburst in court
16:55 Liebenberg says he feels remorse about the moment in court on Thursday when he yelled at the magistrate saying, “God will judge you. God will judge you!”
‘I’m not emotional’
16:45 On whether he will be a danger to the public if he is released on bail, Liebenberg says he is not emotional. “I have never been accused of assault or intimidation.” He adds that he is not violent and does not murder people. He also does not have plans to flee the country.
‘It was never a Ponzi scheme’
16:40 He says that he never meant to deceive anyone. He also denies that he ever operated a Ponzi scheme. He continues to say that he will call his investors to testify for him.
On accusations that he has bribed several politicians and other people, Liebenberg says he does not pay bribes but helps people from the goodness of his heart.
‘This is why I support MK’
16:35 Liebenberg says his support for MK stems from the fact that South Africa has no opposition party. “MK was born from the lack of opposition parties. Now we have a proper opposition party for the first time.”
‘The most successful miner since De Beers’
16:25 Liebenberg says he is the most successful miner since De Beers.
He is clearly upset when he starts to speak about pastor Rooies Strauss who went to the mine in Koingnaas after his [Liebenberg’s] incarceration to hand out food to the miners.
“He walks in with a gun in is one hand and the Bible in his other hand.”
Liebenberg accuses Mike Bolhuis of theft
16:15 Liebenberg then refers to the payment platform AE Switch which is managed by Tiaan Lombard. Liebenberg started using the platform in 2021.
“Tiaan Lombard is a convicted fraudster and criminal. He was incarcerated and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He then made a deal with the state.” Liebenberg says.
According to Liebenberg, Lombard agreed to be an agent for the Hawks. “He registered this platform in collaboration with the Hawks. He then closed the FDG platform, leaving many people destitute. He still owes millions that he hasn’t paid out. He had to pay it out according to a court ruling but has not done so.”
He says he’s been pleading with the Hawks to interview him since the start of the investigation.
Liebenberg then alleges that the private investigator Mike Bolhuis stole diamonds to the value of R52 million from his house in Durbanville.
Liebenberg questions charges
16:00 Liebenberg says he does not understand the charge of racketeering against him. He plans to bring an application to access the data on his and Dezzi’s cellphones, so he can work on his defense.
He also questions the charge of theft. “We paid out R4.5 billion,” and then we are charged with theft. “The media reports that we stole R4.6 billion from people, but not about the R4.5 billion we paid back.
Liebenberg wants to call Niedinger to testify
15:45 “The state would argue that I traded diamonds illegally. I have not,” says Liebenberg.
He goes on to say that he would like to call his former lawyer, Walter Niedinger, who was released on bail, to testify. However, he is uncertain if that would be allowed.
‘Justice system in South Africa is captured’
15:30 Liebenberg again refers to the liquidation of Tariomix and the way he alleges the liquidators operate. He calls them the liquidation mafia.
He says the justice system in South Africa is captured.
The magistrate reminds Liebenberg that the above does not apply to his bail application and that he should stick to the relevant information.
Liebenberg: ‘I was raped in prison’
15:15 “I have been raped in Model B,” Liebenberg states. “I had to stand against a wall for two days while I was bleeding and received no help.”
He also complains that he suffers from gout and arthritis and says that he was scheduled for neck surgery on 18 November.
“The food we get is so dismal. There’s no protein. People in prison all lose weight, and nobody cares. I’ve been pleading that my diet should be changed and as I’m standing here, I’m in a great deal of pain.”
Living conditions in prison
15:00 He says he’s been moved six times since he’s been in prison and that he was told he will be moved to C-Max. “Maybe because of my big mouth.”
According to Liebenberg he’s being held in a single cell and is allowed three to four hours outside his cell a day.
He says that he has some enemies, among whom is Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald. As in a previous court appearance, he alleges that Groenewald has told the head of the prison at the time to “give me a hard time”.
Groenewald has denied this claim in a statement.
Liebenberg tells the court that they are escorted from prison by the police at 180 to 200 km/h.
Dezzi is in ‘dire straights’
14:45 Liebenberg again refers to Dezzi’s failed bail application and says he cannot understand why the other accused were granted bail, while Dezzi has only been acting as a proxy.
“As far as I understand we have a right to freedom according to the Constitution. My wife definitely has the right to freedom.”
He then refers to Van Heerden again and says he didn’t apply his mind. “I break a lance for my wife who is not here and is in dire straits at the moment.”
Liebenberg says he does not have minor dependents. He views his dependents as Dezzi and her two children who “have been like children in my house since day one”.
However, he says he has been looking after his daughter as her husband cannot find work, they have three children, and she suffers from cancer.
‘What goes for the goose goes for the gander’
14:35 He says he often carries large amounts of cash with him and refers to President Cyril Ramaphosa “who also does that” and the Phala Phala case where cash was found in Ramaphosa’s couch.
He is certain that Ramaphosa wouldn’t mind if he [Liebenberg] travels with a lot of cash. “What goes for the goose goes for the gander.”
Lawyer let Dezzi down, says Liebenberg
14:25 He says he’s been married to Dezzi since 15 October 2022. “She is the first woman I ever fell in love with. I am standing here, because I would like to spend the little money we have on her defence. All our accounts have been frozen.”
Liebenberg says his bail application won’t be concluded in two days, as there’s quite a few witnesses he would like to call.
He alleges that Jan van Heerden, Dezzi’s legal representative, did not consult with either of them. “That is what I believe has let my wife down.”
He refers to her bail application which was denied on Thursday.
A good talker, but bad with administration
14:20 Liebenberg states that he is good with talking to people, but that he’s very bad with administration. “I need a very good team around me I can trust.”
‘I take responsibility for the things I had control over’
14:15 He says Tariomix was a shelf company which was started in 2011 but was only put to use on 9 March 2020. “We then started working specifically on Forever Diamonds and Gold (FDG).”
According to Liebenberg, the first hiccup they encountered was in September when the “Afrikaner mafia” in Stellenbosch told Capitec that he’s doing the same as with Wealth for You and that he “can become big” if they left him. “Capitec then froze the account with R72 million in October. We won that case against Capitec and the money was released.”
He says his testimony is a discussion. “I take responsibility for the things I had control over, and also the dream of putting the mineral wealth in the hands of ordinary people.”
Liebenberg admits to funding MK’s election campaign
14:00 Liebenberg says he decided to stand as an independent candidate in the elections in May this year.
“Msholozi asked me to develop a political company. The reason is that Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) was uncertain if the ANC would recognise them as a political party.”
He testifies that he funded the political campaign for MK. Not in its entirety. [Vladimir] Putin also “came to the rescue”.
‘Im not good with money’
13:45 Liebenberg says he is not good with money, but he is good with ideas.
“I must leave the administration in the hands of people I trust.”
He then started Wealth for You Mining and Exploration, in which people bought shares. “However, the same thing happened that is happening now. It became a media frenzy.”
Liebenberg decides to live on the streets
13:30 After his wife left him, he went to live on the streets although he “owned three houses”.
“I stayed in Carnival City for nine months and under a tree in Benoni for another nine months. My father died the same year.”
On the birthday of his first child, he lay under a tree and cried “bitterly” about what he had done with his life.
Liebenberg starts to sing, but the words of the song are unclear.
“I then hiked to Port Nolloth after God spoke to me and started working as a deck hand.”
‘I used the secretary’s desk as a toilet’
13:20 In 1985 he started Melkweg Romerige Genot as a competitor to Milky Lane, which he sold in 1986 at a substantial profit.
He then worked at the Springs municipality as a housing legal clerk. “On the day I resigned, I developed a certain need to use the secretary’s desk as a toilet”.
Liebenberg’s tertiary education
13:00 He says his tertiary education is a bit chequered.
He started studying B.Juris at Potchefstroom University in 1983.
In 1985 he got married and had his first child. He was then forced to give up his studies and find work. He graduated in 1991. He later studied towards a Master’s Degree in Business Leadership (MBL), but did not complete that.
According to Liebenberg he tried to buy a master’s degree in London which he paid £2 000 for, but says it’s not worth the paper it’s written on.
Liebenberg on his family
12:45 Liebenberg says he is the second of five brothers. His brother Yochanan is Jewish and resides in Britain. His older brother lives in Melville and is a gay pastor. The fourth brother is a member of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), while the fifth brother works on ships.
“Our family is really the United Nations. My father died on the night of his 60th birthday, my age at the moment.”
Liebenberg says he was born in a hospital in Hillbrow.
He went to Grey College from grade 1 to grade 3 when his father became a pastor for the “happy clappies”. The family then moved to Lindhurst.
‘The Afrikaners do not share their knowledge and wealth’
12:30 He says De Beers mines 15 million carats of diamonds in South Africa. “What they do is, like in Namakwaland, to pick all the profitable areas. They destroy the communities. When they leave a specific area, 95% of the people are unemployed and end up back where they started.”
Liebenberg says that is a message that white South Africans do not want to hear. “We do not want to hear that we’ve destroyed the souls of African people.”
He goes on to say that black economic empowerment (BEE) offers opportunities to a few select individuals and the rest of the people cannot enter an industry and become a chief executive officer (CEO) or a shareholder in a company like Anglo America or De Beers.
“The question remains: What happens to the people in Namakwaland, in Kimberley and the Northern Cape? The people I fight for. The Afrikaners, with our privileged background, do not share our knowledge and wealth with the rest of the country.”
Liebenberg says he’s not licensed to deal in diamonds
12:15 Liebenberg says he is experienced in the diamond industry. “However, I do not deal in diamonds. I do not hold the licences, but I employ people who are licenced to deal.”
He now talks about his experience working in the diamond industry in Africa.
‘I cried for days’
12:00 He now talks about his travels in Africa and says the continent should be one. “There shouldn’t be borders and separation.”
He says he travelled in the back of a police van with a Zimbabwean man on Monday morning. “Foreigners do not feel welcome in South Africa, but do not have the means to get back to their own countries.”
While traveling through Africa, Liebenberg says he saw a lot of hardship and cried for days. “I realised then that my calling was for the people of Africa.”
Liebenberg talks about his travels
11:45 According to Liebenberg, he has travelled extensively since the age of 16. At that stage he was a member of the Transvaal Youth Choir and travelled overseas with the choir. At the same age he travelled overseas to discover the world.
“At that age I haven’t seen a naked woman because my father was a pastor.”
Liebenberg says he wants to make a difference
11:35 Liebenberg states his date of birth. “That makes me 60 years old. And that makes me a person who has gone through a lot in this country, and I realised that I have to make a difference in this country. I’m a South African citizen; I’ve been that since birth.”
He says he has a valid South African passport which he uses as his identity document (ID). “My ID document was confiscated by the liquidators as they took my clothing, my underpants, my wife’s perfume and her clothing.”
He now talks about how the contracts on their rental properties were cancelled.
‘I am a product of apartheid’
11:25 Liebenberg says at first Tariomix was about buying and selling. He hired 129 people from groups of unemployed zama-zamas. “We wanted to find a solution to a problem – the access to mineral wealth that ordinary people need desperately. The Europeans took the mineral wealth from ordinary people.”
He says the Afrikaner cannot continue in the old ways of apartheid. “Yes, I am a product of apartheid. I have been caught using the k-word, but I’ve also been called the k-word.”
Liebenberg questions liquidators actions
11:15 Liebenberg says that the state would argue that he hurt a lot of people in the process.
“In fact, that was the first thing that Colonel Danie Bruwer told me when he arrested me. My first reaction was that I have helped thousands of people that you don’t talk about’.
“In fact, when the liquidators started attacking my company Tariomix in a very evil way, they’ve never answered the question about why they started recruiting joint venture (JV) partners at least two months before the date of liquidation. Eight months later the Master of the Supreme Court refuses to call those liquidators to book.
“What we’ve seen since was balaklavas, guns pointed at staff members and, since my incarceration, the destruction at the mines in Namakwaland and Koingnaas.
Liebenberg testifies on his background
11:00: Liebenberg testifies that his wife left him in 2000. They were divorced in 2002.
He says he is a direct descendent of Kratoa. “She is the first Khoisan woman we really know about and was the translator for Jan van Riebeeck in 1662.
“I can feel the link with the Khoisan daily. It’s interesting, because when you look at me, you would say I am German-Jew. But the fact of the matter is that a lot of Afrikaans people, a lot of the Boere (and there’s a big difference between the two), come from that background. All of us have some Khoi and San in us.
That made such an emotional appeal on me as a nine-year-old as I was standing at the harbour in Port Nolloth and I saw the diamond boats going to sea. But I saw something else at the time. I saw alcoholism, I saw unemployment in Namakwaland. I saw a father grappling with the fact that South Africa is polarised as it is right now. And I don’t think we’ve done very well as a nation in the past 30 years to try and sort that out.
I have committed myself to the journey of bringing reconciliation between people. Not tokenism as the government of national unity (GNU) is doing. What I’m doing is on a personal level, on a local level, on an economic level to try and uplift people.”
10:57 Liebenberg testifies under oath
NOW READ: Magistrate in Liebenberg case steps down, Louis disrupts court
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