Venter death mystifies friends

2003-03-18 08:15

Ziegfried Ekron

Cape Town - The hit-and-run death of CapeTalk radio-station manager Lucia Venter, whose husband was killed in a suspected assassination six years ago, has left friends mystified.

Venter died after she was hit by a bakkie on Sunday night outside a Camps Bay restaurant.

She had managed CapeTalk chat radio since 1998. She was to have celebrated her 40th birthday on Wednesday.

Witnesses said a white bakkie overtook a BMW waiting in front of the restaurant in Victoria Road. The bakkie narrowly missed crashing into the BMW, but hit Venter.

The bakkie driver reportedly sped away towards Sea Point.

Colleen Louw of CapeTalk said the radio station was in mourning. "She was our boss, and also our friend. The station was her family."

Venter is survived by two boys aged 7 and 11. The children's father was Fanie Venter.

At the age of 38, six years ago, he was shot dead at his house in Northcliff, Johannesburg in front of the boys, who were toddlers at the time.

He had been running his own management consultancy and had previously been employed by the SABC as a strategic planner.

It was reported at the time that Venter possibly had been the victim of an assassination.

When talking about the killing, Venter had said it appeared as if the murderer had "waited" for her husband to appear before shooting.

"My father (Rudolph du Toit) and the two boys came out of the house ahead of my husband. Only when he appeared did the murderer open fire."

Police investigation into the murder on August 23, 1997, took a twist when detectives are understood to have been given information from someone "close to the Venter family".

The Venters' gardener was taken into custody for questioning, but had a solid alibi and was released.

An SABC employee, and a friend of Venter's, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Monday he considered the deaths of Fanie and now Lucia unexplainable.

- Die Burger