[Image: Wynand and Zurenah Smit / Facebook / News24]
It sounds like something out of a telenovela, except it’s painfully real.
A former cop has confessed to his role in a plot to murder wealthy Stellenbosch farmer, Wynand Smit. What followed was a tangled mess of sex, betrayal, greed, and a family feud so toxic it makes Succession look like a picnic.
The confession sheds light on the orchestrated scheme that led to Smit’s death in June 2019, News24 reports. If Bradley van Eysland’s version of events is accepted in the criminal trial about the killing of Smit, he could be one of the main reasons Smit’s wife could face life behind bars.
Yep, at the centre of this murderous circus is none other than Zurenah Smit, Smit’s wife and alleged mastermind of the operation. According to investigators, she reportedly teamed up with Karel Derek Sait and accomplice Steven James Damon to cash in on Smit’s estate. Think vineyards, businesses, properties – the whole Stellenbosch dream.
Smit, who married Zurenah after his divorce in 1999, owned Louisenhof Cellars CC, Ribbok Heuwels Trust and WS Smit Watergang Trust, IOL reports.
Smit had been worried about illegal land occupations, and in a bid to protect his wife and estate, he hired private security and brought in Van Eysland to keep watch over Louisenhof Farm. What he didn’t know? His good intentions were the setup for his downfall.
Zurenah got close to Van Eysland, too close. According to the indictment, she spilt about her unhappy marriage and allegedly floated the idea of killing her husband. Van Eysland, apparently not taking her too seriously at first, was eventually persuaded to find help. Enter Sait.
When Smit decided to cut ties with the costly security company, Van Eysland reportedly faked threats to scare him into keeping the contract. Zurenah added to the act, claiming to have seen strangers lurking in the bushes near the house. When none of that worked, she and Van Eysland allegedly drugged Smit with sleeping pills, nicked the safe keys, and looted R235,000, three Kruger Rands (worth over R60K), a Mandela/De Klerk coin worth R23K, and a pistol once owned by Smit’s ex-wife. Casual.
On the night of the hit in 2019, Smit was gunned down in his own home, mid-dinner with his wife and a friend. It looked like a robbery, sure, but dig a little deeper and it gets murky. The gun that was used was stolen from Smit’s own safe, accessed by Zurenah.
Manufacturing a security scare on the farm helped justify hiring extra muscle – conveniently, Sait and Damon. They were allegedly paid R2 million each for playing their parts in the murder.
But wait, there’s more…If murder wasn’t enough, the aftermath had its own set of plot twists.
The trial has been dragging through the Western Cape High Court, postponed again and again. But prosecutors are not letting go. The National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, alleged that Zurenah went full fraudster, forging her mother-in-law’s will to cut out the kids and grandkids, Algoa FM reported in 2021.
“She also forged a document which gave her the power of attorney which gave her full control over the management of the deceased’s assets, yields from his pension and an undisclosed number of diamonds in safekeeping in Germany.”
Diamonds. In Germany. You can’t make this stuff up.
A pre-trial conference in 2022 saw the accused — Zurenah, Sait (yep, the alleged hitman), and the so-called middleman Damon — make another court appearance. Ntabazalila confirmed the delay was so the defence could “take proper instructions from the accused.” Translation: regroup and maybe come up with a slightly better story.
Let’s not forget – a year and a half after the murder, police raided Sait’s house and found firearms and ammo. He and Zurenah got hit with more charges, plus a second bail of R5,000. Because nothing says “definitely not guilty” like keeping a stash of weapons around after your alleged hit job.
Overall, Zurenah, Sait, and Damon have been slapped with a laundry list of charges: murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of forgery, and a few other legal curveballs for good measure.
Call this murder case a full-blown morality play starring betrayal, greed, and a widow with allegedly forged documents and a taste for high-stakes power plays. Whether the justice system can cut through the lies and manipulation remains to be seen.
This Stellenbosch saga is far from over.
