Idah Lebaka, who is serving her sentence at the Johannesburg Female Correctional Centre, spoke to SABC News about the events that ultimately led to her incarceration. She is among the 6,196 female inmates nationally, with 1,703 women incarcerated at the Johannesburg facility.

Lebaka said her involvement began after a friend who worked at an abattoir in North West contacted her about lucrative cash transactions taking place at the business. She was allegedly asked to organise men to rob the business. The robbery ended in tragedy when the business owner, Koos van der Leeuw, was shot and later died.

OFM News reported Van der Leeuw, an elderly farmer and member of Agri North West, was shot during an armed robbery in Potchefstroom in 2015. He and his wife were reportedly at the abattoir for a routine weekly cash transaction meeting when four armed men travelling in a blue Subaru targeted them.

Van der Leeuw was shot in the head and airlifted to a Johannesburg hospital, where he later died. Lebaka said the intention was to steal the money, but the situation turned deadly when Van der Leeuw resisted.

“The main thing was to go and take the money. I will definitely say take the money because the money was not ours. I think I was not at the scene but I was in the premises if I can say and I think Mr Van der Leeuw was refusing to give his money. The money that he worked hard for and one of the guys lost it and ended up shooting Mr Van der Leeuw.”

Lebaka confirmed four people were involved in the robbery and that she was the only woman among them. She said Van der Leeuw’s death continues to weigh heavily on her.

“It’s haunting me, it’s part of me. I go through that everyday of my life. I wish I didn’t take part in that, I wish I didn’t take part in that because somebody ended up losing their life. Which was not planned but he did. So I’m carrying that every day of my life. I wake up, It’s part of me and I’m regretting every day of my life. But I’m getting somewhere, I am a better woman not wanting anything to do with crime,” she said.

Lebaka said her arrest shocked her family, particularly because she was eight months pregnant when the incident occurred. She said she informed her sister about her arrest but has never told her family the full details of what happened.

She gave birth to her daughter at Potchefstroom Hospital while in custody. Her 11-year-old daughter and 21-year-old child now visit her in prison. Despite the circumstances, Lebaka said her family had remained supportive, particularly when it came to her children.

“My family is very supportive when it comes to my kids. They are very supportive, of which I think if I was still home my kids wouldn’t be the way they are right now. So it was blessing and disguise for me to be moved away, that’s how I look at it. It was a blessing so that my kids can become who my parents wanted me to be,” she added.

Lebaka attributed her involvement in the robbery to greed and selfishness, saying she became consumed by the prospect of easy money.

“I got excited on the transaction, oh a million, a million on daily basis. Let’s go grab the money so that we can have this fake life that we are leading.”

‘She is sometimes woken during the night to intervene when tensions arise’

Her life in prison is now governed by a strict routine. Lebaka said she wakes up at 02:00 to pray before joining the morning parade at 07:30 and preparing for work. She shares a communal cell with 43 other inmates, with three reportedly forced to sleep on the floor because of overcrowding.

As an inmate monitor, Lebaka said she is sometimes woken during the night to intervene when tensions arise among inmates. She claimed violent incidents inside correctional facilities are not always portrayed publicly because inmates sometimes intervene before disputes escalate. Lebaka recalled encountering Van der Leeuw’s wife during court proceedings. She said Mrs Van der Leeuw expressed her anger towards her and questioned how a woman could have become involved in such a crime.

Her lawyer advised her to tell the truth after the other three accused allegedly attempted to place the blame on her, Lebaka said. She was sentenced in 2021 and has about six years remaining on her sentence. Lebaka is expected to be released in 2032.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi sm

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