Ms Gail Benade, a suspect turned state witness, testified in the SBV trial against her ex-fiancé and his co-accused.
Benade was escorted into the Middelburg High Court on October 24 by a group of four men, each took their seat in the gallery among onlookers, two of the men appeared to be armed.
Benade was of the first suspects to be arrested in May 2014 just weeks after the SBV robbery took place. Her and her fiancé, Mr Robert Clack were alleged to have played a part in the SBV robbery and were on the run to East London when they were arrested by police. Soon after she appeared in Witbank Magistrates Court along the initial accused in the early stages of the SBV trial.
“You are warned as a witness to testify truthfully, if you answer truthfully, you may be absolved from all charges against you,” said Judge Bert Bam.
He continued in asking how she became involved in the robbery, to which she replied that her and Clack were approached by a friend known to them as Monyane, who told them about a job they could do.
“We drove to Pretoria where we were introduced to Khumalo,” said Benade, she was then asked to identify Mr Enock Khumalo, which she did.
“Robert and Khumalo got into a Toyota Quantum, they spent over an hour in there talking,” she said. “The details of the meeting were discussed with me on the drive back,” she added.
She said that the job was to rob a multi million business.
“Robert and I were to impersonate police officers,” she said.
She then explained how they met the night two weeks before the actual robbery with the intent to commit the robbery that night. They met at a house in eMalahleni where they discussed the details of how the robbery would go down.
“We were handed uniforms and given a piece of paper with two guards names written on it, we were told what the strategy would be and that we would be investigating theft,” she said.
“The Finger told us that there would only be two guards on duty that night,” she said.
Benade explained that ‘The Finger’ was a lady working inside the SBV relaying critical information.
“A man known as Jackie was doing all the talking in the house,” said Benade.
“Can you point out this Jackie,” questioned Mr Hein van der Merwe, Prosecutor from Director of Public Prosecution.
She then pointed at Mr Tamsanqa Khubeka, identifying him in the court.
The details of the evening roughly two weeks before the actual robbery took place were explained, according to Benade the robbery was called off that night by Jackie as there was a car parked in front of the SBV holdings, preventing them from ‘cashing in’.
“We were told that we would try again in two week’s time” she said.
At their next meeting roughly two weeks later, the couple were told that the strategy would change, while driving in a Volkswagen Golf GTI on the way to the holdings the details were explained to them when they were introduced to a man known to them as Capt Dube.
“We were told that the three of us would be introduced as police and I would be Ms Smith, an employee at SBV,” said Benade.
Benade went on to explain the events and her role in the robbery, her testimony depicted similarities in the testimonies brought forward by the four guards who took to the stand last week.
She recalled how the two guards were forcefully taken into custody by the posing as police officers.
At the time she noticed a security vehicle patrolling the area,
“I was told not to worry about it as it was one of ours,” she said.
They drove to a house in Bronkhorstspruit nicknamed China City where she met the owner of the house, one of the accused, Mr Titus Maila.
“We were called outside and told that we needed to go ‘arrest’ two more guards that were coming on shift,” she said.
They headed out in the GTI and a BMW.
“The two guards were forced into the boot of the BMW,” she recalls.
According to Benade they met at an open field near an industrial area where they offloaded the two guards to join the other two previously captured, along with the suspects.
“We went to a house known as Dark City, it was a township house in Bronkhorstspruit, the furniture was moved up against the walls, we arrived there at around six or seven in the morning,” said Benade.
It was there that the money was sorted into denominations and counting machines were brought in, the money was then sorted into everyone’s cuts.
“Later Jackie arrived from the crime scene and told us that some people had been identified at the scene, I understand he is from an organised crime unit. He then told us that R40-million would be taken from the share to grease the pockets of higher up officials,” said Benade.
She explained how Khubeka returned to the scene and that two very well dressed men came to the house later that afternoon.
“The general consensus is that they arrived to pick up the money,” said Benade.
She was then asked if she could identify the men, she replied she could identify one of the men and pointed to Mr Bhekani Gcabashe.
According to Benade’s testimony, herself, Clack, and Monyane left ‘Dark City’ and headed towards Johannesburg to her parents house where she left the money, herself and Clack then drove toward Bloemfontein.
“We tossed our phones along the highway so we couldn’t be tracked, Monyane told us that we would be in danger, that is why we left Gauteng,” she said.
They were arrested in East London.
“I made a statement to the police, Robert and I had a short discussion about the statement, Robert told me to be honest and asked that I don’t mention anything about Monyane, I then told police where my share of the money was,” said Benade.
Van der Merwe then questioned her on her first appearance in Witbank Magistrates Court and asked her if she would be able to point out the men involved in the robbery.
Benade pointed out 11 suspects that stood before the court and linked them to either the money counting at ‘Dark City’, or to her previous testimonies. She also recalled that at one point during the operation she heard ‘The Finger’s’ name, it was Gift, better known as Ms Gift Nkosi, one of the first suspects to be arrested along with Mr Johannes Bouwer.
Both suspects were taken off the roll and put into witness protection. Nkosi had last week testified before court along with the four security guards that were abducted. These testimonies coincided with one another strengthening the state’s case against the 14 accused of the biggest heist in South Africa.
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