DJ Sumbody’s business partner Kagiso Setsetse took a R15-million life cover policy from Momentum a year before he was killed execution style in Joburg last year.
But the staggering amount was not paid out by the insurance company because the detectives investigating Sumbody’s untimely death “froze” the payment until they could obtain a statement from Setsetse.
The chilling tidbits were revealed by alleged 28s gang boss and Cape Town businessman Ralph Stanfield in an exclusive interview with Sunday World this week.
Stanfied said during Ayepyep’s renovation, Setsetse and Sumbody were threatened by unknown gangsters who told them that they were not allowed to operate their business unless they paid a protection fee to two notorious underworld bosses. The duo approached his mutual friend and implored him to provide security for them.
Ralph flew down to Johannesburg at the end of 2019 and met him at Tashas Menlyn, Pretoria, where they offered him a partnership through his wife Nicole.
“The terms of agreement was that Nicole takes care of the overall operations and all three directors, being Nicole, DJ Sumbody and Kagiso get a salary of R150 000 monthly and split R1.5-million at the end of every year.
“At first DJ Sumbody had tabled 50% for Nicole, which I turned down and requested that the directors share evenly,” Stanfied said.
He said when Ayepyep Cape Town was officially opened on April 1, 2021, Setsetse and DJ Sumbody received a threat from unidentified gangers claiming that they would shoot the place down if they continued with the opening. They then had a quick meeting with Stanfied at the Victoria Waterfront Mall where he provided security.
“Till to date there have been no reported shootouts at or near the establishment,” he said.
Stanfied alleges that in 2021 Setsetse and Sumbody “amended” their Ayepyep Menlyn shareholders agreement after which Setsetse took out a life insurance for the artist to the value of R15-million.
He said the investigating officer tried a couple of times without success to get a statement from Setsetse until he fled the country to Dubai .
Setsetse fraudulently, Stanfied alleges, obtained Sumbody’s death certificate from the funeral parlour after the musician’s mother refused to give it to him. This because he allegedly wanted to claim from the insurance but the detectives stopped the process.
Setsetse and his wife Suzen Raphela, who were married in December last year, visited his family in his Cape Town home in January this year. While there, Setsetse hinted that he feared for his life in Gauteng and wanted to relocate to the Mother City.
“Suzen went to Nicole to request assistance getting her kids schools and getting them admitted as the year began.
“They ended up not moving and no questions were asked as to the reason they decided not to move. In January Setsetse offered Nicole, who owns 33% of the joint’s shares, more shares on condition that he takes a out a life insurance for her. He even produced a certificate which stated that he was the majority shareholder with 67% from the Setsetse Family Trust and with Nicole’s 33% shares, they would leave the Sefoka family out in the cold.”
Nicole, Stanfied said, gave Setsetse money, which he wanted to buy Suzen a Range Rover in February.
He said a month later Setsetse invited the Standfields to Dubai and advised Nicole to apply for residency instead of a visitor’s visa.
“This trip was aligned with their plans to host an Ayepyep event in Dubai. Kagiso then removed Nicole from accessing the establishment’s accounts as he started withdrawing large amounts of money from the business account and spent it in Dubai. Nicole requested her cousin, who runs a hubbly business at the establishment, to use his speedpoints to collect payments from clients,” he said.
When Setsetse realised that Nicole was using different speedpoints, he obtained an urgent application for the speedpoints to be reinstalled and for Nicole to have access to the business account as a shareholder. He said afterwards Setsetse said he would not set foot in the joint again.
“It was then discovered by Nicole that all her Ayepyep emails have been wiped and that suppliers and service providers have outstanding invoices with the establishment.
“Nicole realised that the company could have possibly bled over R4-million from Setsetse, to profit only himself.
The Sefoka family discovered through bank statements that the only salary or profit their son was receiving was from the Cape Town branch.
“They were shocked to have been kicked out of the business since their son is no more,” he said.
Stanfied said the family then filed a court application to challenge Setsetse’s hostile takeover of their son’s shares.
It is alleged that the last time the family saw or spoke to Setsetse was during the funeral. The family has since sought assistance to legally fight Setsetse.
The court, Stanfied said, will probably defer the matter because Setsetse wants it be heard in Janaury next year.
Kagiso confirmed that he took a life policy cover policy cover for the deejay but said that this was an agreement they both had as directors of the lucrative club.
“Me and Oupa had what we call a buy and sell insurance. So basically what it is to cover a director in terms of death that the money is to be paid out to the family for the shares of the business. In other words, if I don’t wakeup tomorrow, insurance will cover my shares and it will pay to my wife instead of her saying she is coming to work at Ayepyep,” Setsetse added.
He added that the muso also had the same insurance on his name. Setsetse said when the insurance pays, the money will be paid to the musician’s family.
“It is not what he (Stanfield) says , he is painting that story because he is trying to tarnish my name,” he said.
He denied that the insurance was frozen by Momentum claiming that an evaluation of the total value of the club was done by the insurance before the money could be paid out.
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