A suspicious farmer, CCTV footage and employees prepared to rat him out were ultimately the downfall of perlemoen kingpin Morne Blignaut who – faced with a barrage of evidence – changed his plea on Monday to guilty on three serious charges.
Appearing in the Port Elizabeth High Court, Blignaut, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of racketeering and one of contravening the Marine Living Resources Act.
Blignaut was one of six people arrested and charged with a string of offences after their perlemoen processing operation on a farm just outside Port Elizabeth was intercepted by police.
He had initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his mind when it became clear that the state had overwhelming evidence against him.
His about-turn occurred shortly before the court was to view surveillance footage captured by police on the Oliphantskop farm in 2013 and 2014.
After the lunch adjournment, Blignaut’s legal counsel, advocate Alwyn Griebenow, told judge Dayalin Chetty that his client wished to make certain admissions.
“Do you want to change your plea to guilty?” Chetty asked a sombre-looking Blignaut.
Blignaut nodded his head and said “yes”.
His co-accused – ex-wife Marshelle Blignaut, 40, Jacob “Japie” Naumann, 34, Frederick “Frikkie” Nance, 24, Petrus “Pietie” Smith, 31, and Willie Nance, 56 – pleaded guilty to a string of charges including racketeering and the illegal trade in abalone (perlemoen) on August 22.
All five co-accused were to be witnesses against Blignaut.
Three other people – Chinese citizens Huang Zhenyong, 32, and Pan Kekun, 53, along with Brett Killian, 29, who were arrested in August 2014 on the farm between Port Elizabeth and Addo – were sentenced in May 2015 for their involvement in the ring.
Zhenyong and Kekun were each jailed for three years, while Killian – who has since turned state witness – received a one-year sentence, suspended for a year, as well as correctional services supervision.
In his testimony, investigating officer Warrant Officer Leon Eksteen detailed how the operation to catch Blignaut and his co-accused began when farmer Johannes Erasmus informed an officer in the police stock theft unit that his wife, Carina, had been approached by Naumann and Smith who wanted to know about renting a farm in the area.
“They told Erasmus that they wanted to hire a farm with the intention to breed dogs,” Eksteen said.
“[Erasmus] could see something was not right – he asked them if they intended to smuggle abalone, they said ‘yes’ and [Erasmus] said he wanted nothing to do with it.”
The farmer then contacted the stock theft unit member and offered his assistance to police after Eksteen relayed the information to the national prosecuting authority.
“I was given the instruction to immediately start an investigation,” Eksteen said.
Erasmus then called Naumann and told him he had had a change of heart and that they could rent his farm.
Eksteen had surveillance cameras installed on the farm.
The footage, according to a statement given by Killian, clearly showed how the perlemoen was brought to the farm, where it was processed, and how it was transported away in brown paper bags.
“It was the biggest drying facility in the Eastern Cape,” Eksteen said.
In his statement, Killian explained in detail how the perlemoen was transported to the farm from various other properties across Port Elizabeth, including houses in Newton Park, Bridgemead and Sydenham, as well as a smallholding in Kuilsrivier.
Most of these properties were registered in either Blignaut’s name or the names of others close to the operation.
“What would happen is the fresh perlemoen would be frozen and then taken to the [Oliphantskop farm],” Killian said.
“It would then be sorted into different sizes before being cooked and dried.
“Salt is needed in the cooking process and heaters [which work with gas] are used to dry it.”
The processed perlemoen would be taken to the properties around town and stored, before being shipped off.
Killian also detailed how perlemoen poached in the Western Cape made its way to Port Elizabeth on at least two occasions. This was also cooked, dried and stored at the farm and other properties.
Eksteen, meanwhile, told the court how cars were bought in other people’s names without their knowledge and how properties changed hands according to the need at the time.
Following Blignaut’s decision to plead guilty, state prosecutor Martin le Roux told the court that Blignaut, his ex-wife Marshelle and Smith were the brains behind the enterprise.
“[Blignaut] was the manager and employee of the enterprise which consisted of the illegal trade in abalone,” he said.
Judgment in the case will be delivered on Wednesday, while the sentencing of Blignaut’s co-accused will take place on September 20.