Popular Long Street tasting room and eatery, Beerhouse, will be shutting its doors after this weekend, after its management cited extortion as a significant threat.
Owner Randolf Jorberg said extortion started on the second or third day of trading in 2013, when a man from the “underworld” visited the business.
The man, he said, pitched a proposal for a protection fee, which Jorberg refused to pay, until a few days after an employee was murdered.
Thirty-two-year-old bouncer Joe Kanyona was stabbed in the neck at Beerhouse on June 20, 2015.
“A man said if I pay them, I could call them if ever a group too big for our own doorman came in and behaved rowdy and I had to tell him that in two years of trade, the only time my doorman had to deal with a group that is too big to handle was when he arrived with eight big men days prior. The danger they protect you from is themselves. That is what makes it an obvious extortion.
“I believe that is what killed him – my decision not to pay.
“That haunts me, not that I take total blame but there is consequence to action.
“I paid R2 000 and it was never about the amount, because our business was doing well back then.
“We could afford it easily. But then they got a few hundred businesses in town that are paying this (protection fee). R2 000 is only for small businesses. Once you start paying and they say life has become expensive, you don’t have the freedom anymore to say no. They would push you to take their doorman who receives a fraction of what you pay and the rest goes to the mafia bosses.”
He said he was afraid that the protection fee could lead to drugs being brought into the establishment.
“To some people, it is such a wellknown secret. Everybody who works with nightlife and entertainment knows about it and doesn’t dare talk about it because they are intimidated easily.
“Other restaurants came forward and said they were also forced into the contract and this extended to coffee shops, property developers and luxury hotels.
“And that is when I started the campaign because I had to walk over the body of a staff member, and I became the spokesperson and persona non grata. I had received death threats.”
Jorberg, who has since left the country and is living a nomadic life, announced the closure on his social platforms on Wednesday.
“It was exactly 11 years ago that we celebrated my 32nd birthday with the pre-opening party of Beerhouse, the beginning of a long, successful and incredible chapter of my life. And today we announce its end. More news to follow in the coming days!”
Beerhouse wrote on Facebook its sudden demise was clearly connected to a Carte Blanche exposé where Jorberg spoke out about the 2015 murder and ongoing extortion payments that affect every business in Cape Town’s nightlife industry.
A report released by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) this year noted key figures including Mark Lifman, Jerome “Donkie” Booysen and Nafiz Modack as establishing security companies that operated the nightlife in Cape Town.
Safety and security mayco member, JP Smith, said the directorate continued to support police in combating extortion and crime across the metropole.
“We urgently need to do more to combat the ever-growing threat. The City’s enforcement agencies also assist and conduct enforcement patrols – including the CBD where the City deployed an additional 100 law enforcement officers – and works closely with other agencies. Enforcement assistance includes gathering of information, patrols, arrests and working closely with SAPS in further investigation and follow-up of cases,” Smith said.
Cape Town ward councillor Ian McMahon said there were many factors that changed the operating landscape in the City’s night-time economy. “Crime has escalated, and the area covered by SAPS Central Station in the CBD has the highest crime stats out of any station in the country in five sectors: a) the top 17 community-reported serious crimes b) common robbery c) property-related crime d) theft out of a motor vehicle and e) all theft not mentioned elsewhere. Many of the crimes reported here impact the industry.
“The CBD is oversubscribed in terms of Liquor Licensed venues, especially late-night ones. Compliance enforcement is difficult, venues take huge risks and stay open until the sun comes up, doors locked, windows shaded in the hope of additional income.
“I see about five restaurants also closing over this period, that don’t have security at all – so the impact on the economy is across the board, and the main reason why job creation is so vital,” McMahon said.
Cape Argus