On 24 October 2014, the controversial local documentary feature, 204: Getting
Away with Murder, directed by Warren Batchelor and produced by Tony Miguel, was
released in South African cinemas.
For those who aren’t aware, “204’ refers to section 204 of the Criminal Procedures
Act which awards full and permanent indemnity from prosecution in exchange for
truthful testimony.
Truth will prevail
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there are pains to bring it to light.’ This famous
quote by George Washington opens the documentary.
The story of mining magnate Brett Kebble is one that truly seems stranger than
fiction. Kebble was a well-known South African businessman who enjoyed a
meteoric rise to fame and fortune in the mining world, with close ties to the ruling
African National Congress. He was involved in one of South Africa’s largest
orchestrated fraud cases to the tune of some R27 billion. Kebble’s business dealings
resulted in his death on 27 September 2005, when he was shot dead on a street
near the M1 highway in Melrose, Johannesburg.
Three men – Mikey Schultz, Nigel McGurk and Faizel “Kappie’ Smith – were held
responsible for his murder, which was later described as an apparent “assisted
suicide’. All three killers were acquitted of murdering Kebble in exchange for
testifying for the state in the trial of drug trafficker Glenn Agliotti, who also had
close links to Kebble and appeared to be the mastermind behind the murder. The
investigation that followed revealed Johannesburg’s dark criminal underworld, and
its links to South Africa’s big business and political spheres.
Stranger than fiction
Like the rest of the country, filmmaker Warren Batchelor found himself astonished
by the outcome of the investigation, prompting him to make a film out of this
“stranger than fiction’ story. “The film would dig deeper into the “Kebble saga’ and
the involvement of the three killers,’ Batchelor explains.
“Upon doing in-depth interviews with Shultz, McGurk and Smith, I started to realise
there was a far bigger picture and story involved that seemed more and more
incredible,’ he says.
Eager to unearth all sides of the story, Batchelor approached the key role players
involved in the investigation to see if they would speak on camera. To his surprise,
one by one, they agreed as they realised that the making of the documentary would
provide a platform on which all sides of the story could be voiced.
“Over a period of four years this list of interviewees grew and grew until we had
most of the major role players telling their story on camera,’ he comments.
Docu-drama
The documentary sets about profiling the organisations, characters, financial
climate and events leading up to Kebble’s death, and then seeks to unravel the
debateable legal proceedings and unresolved issues that came to light in the
aftermath.
204: Getting Away with Murder features in-depth interviews with the likes of
Kebble’s family members, strip club owner Lolly Jackson, convicted drug dealer
Glenn Agliotti, former national police commissioner and convicted fraudster Jackie
Selebi, former NPA head Vusi Pikoli and of course, Kebble’s self-confessed killers –
who not only share their side of the story on camera, but re-enact the murder,
exactly as it occurred.
Blurring the lines between art and reality, DOP Douglas MacFarlane captured all re-
enactments in a highly dramatic fashion with the most basic of HDV cameras and
the addition of the Canon 5D later on. All interviews and re-enactments were shot
over a period of four years – from 2010 to 2014 – in various locations in and around
Johannesburg, including The Grand Club, Brett Kebble’s old house and the actual
location of Kebble’s shooting.
Batchelor comments: “Being a filmmaker and not a documentary
filmmaker/journalist, I always knew I wanted this to be a visually stimulating and
cinematic experience for the audience, hence the way the recreations were shot.
“This is a cinematic production, which is gritty and graphic, with an original score,’
he continues. “I wanted to blur the lines between a documentary and a feature film
and create a unique viewing experience for our audience.’
Moral implications
204: Getting Away with Murder seeks to question the South African justice system
as well as bringing to light the role of politicians and key business systems in
Johannesburg’s criminal underworld.
Batchelor explains: “There are many moral issues which are tackled in this film, the
killing of Brett Kebble being just one of them. The state did many highly
questionable deals with arguably immoral motives which allowed many of the
alleged criminals in this saga to walk free. Section 204 of the Criminal Procedures
Act was used as a tool in this.
“This is a filmmaker’s dream as it offered me the opportunity to be able to create a
world first by having the actual killers not only describe what happened on that
fateful night but actually re-enact it as it happened according to their version. As
everyone knows a lot of things went wrong that night and we portray it all
extremely graphically, holding nothing back,’ he concludes.
