Biker War in Pretoria: Was He Beaten Before the Shooting?

MAC’S Motorcycle Club members allegedly beat the man now accused of the Little Britain Pub shooting in June. They beat him so badly, sources say, that he could not open his eyes. That is the claim at the centre of a Rapport report published on 18 October 2026. The MAC’S, in a signed statement, call the videos now circulating propaganda.

Brian Smith, 45, a member of the Crusaders Motorcycle Club, faces charges of murder and attempted murder. According to the state, he fired a single shot outside the pub in Waterkloof, Pretoria, on 10 October. It killed Baden Watson of the MAC’S and wounded a second member. His bail application is set down for 20 October, and the state will oppose it.

The shooting and the charge

On 13 October, the state gave its version in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. According to Nuusflits, the prosecutor said Watson and the second man approached Smith at the entrance. They asked him to leave, because he belonged to another club. Smith then allegedly drew a firearm and fired. He handed himself over to the police the next morning.

News24 reported the same day that the court heard Smith has a lengthy police profile. Its summary of the day’s news lists previous allegations of pointing a firearm, assault and attempted murder.

What Rapport’s sources allege

Rapport’s reporter Marizanne Kok spoke to 4 men who asked for their names to be changed. The paper calls one of them John, a Crusaders member. He says a group of MAC’S members beat Smith at a Pretoria bar in June. He says Smith and his family have suffered from post-traumatic stress ever since.

A man Rapport calls Willem was at the bar that day. He says about 12 MAC’S members descended on Smith and a friend, and the friend’s cheekbone broke. Later that evening, he says, a man in a balaclava knocked the bar’s co-owner off his chair. Five men then took turns jumping off a table onto him.

“It looked as if they were trying to crush his skull.”

‘Willem’ (pseudonym), to Rapport

Willem lists the co-owner’s injuries: 9 broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, internal bleeding and damage to his heart. Months later, he says, the man still has fluid on the brain, and his memory is getting worse. Rapport understands he has since sold his share in the bar.

Koos, and the raid in February

Then there is Koos, a 58-year-old man from Mpumalanga. He told Rapport that 2 MAC’S riders followed his sister-in-law home from a garage. It started, he says, with a box of Smarties and a traffic light. When he stepped in, 15 to 20 riders arrived within 10 minutes and assaulted him. He still struggles with his kidneys.

“When I hear a bike, I jump with fright.”

‘Koos’ (pseudonym), to Rapport

John also describes a February incident at his own bar. About 35 MAC’S members arrived with rifles and shotguns, he says. They carried out 2 Crusaders cuts, the vests that carry a club’s patches. He says he gave the police the names of the men he could identify, but nothing happened.

“Well, here we are: someone is dead. So what now?”

‘John’ (pseudonym), to Rapport

Every one of these accounts comes from one side, under a changed name, and no court has tested any of it. But a newspaper has now put its name to them. So they are part of the public record, and this article gives them as Rapport’s account.

John’s version of the night

John also gives Rapport a version of 10 October. He says Smith, his wife and his son were having a beer at the bar. A large group of MAC’S members gathered near the toilets. Smith went outside to relieve himself. One member followed him, they shook hands, and then a group walked out towards him.

“You won’t beat me again like last time.”

Smith’s words that night, according to ‘John’

According to John, Smith fired when the group would not leave him alone. He then drove home, changed his clothes and handed himself over to the police, which matches the state’s version. However, Rapport does not say whether John was there that night.

The MAC’S answer

Rapport put the allegations to the MAC’S. The club did not answer the questions, but it had already published a signed statement on 15 October. In it, founding member and leader Mannetjies Geyser condemns the circulation of what he calls incomplete and defamatory videos. He also warns that people should keep the capabilities of artificial intelligence in mind.

“Comment cannot be provided relating to these specific videos as we do not bear knowledge of some of these alleged incidents.”

MAC’S Motorcycle Club, public statement, 15 October 2026

The statement says most members the club expelled, or who resigned, still have MAC’S clothing. Several of them, it says, now ride with the Crusaders. It also claims Crusaders members forcefully removed MAC’S apparel from some of its members. In other words, both clubs say the other has taken its patches, so a patch in a video proves little.

On the shooting itself, the statement relies on the pub. It says that, from the submissions by the Little Britain Pub, no altercation took place before the shooting. On that point the club and the pub are one source, not two. The statement ends with a tribute to Watson, a father of 2 boys. It urges the public to verify information through credible sources.

The pub’s version

The Little Britain Pub posted its own account on 15 October. It says CCTV footage from 3 angles, 2 of them with sound, recorded the shooting. The footage is with the investigating officers. According to the pub, Smith waited outside for the MAC’S members to come out and fired from about 1.5 metres.

“There was no prior altercation, fight or argument before hand.”

Little Britain Pub, 15 October 2026

The pub also claims that Smith’s son pulled Watson’s girlfriend off his father. He threw her to the ground, the pub says, to help him get away. No report of a charge over that claim exists. The pub’s illustration of where everyone stood is a drawing, not the footage.

That leaves 4 versions of the night. The police spoke of an argument. Then came the state’s version in court, the pub’s, and John’s. The last 3 all put Smith outside when MAC’S members came out to him. But they differ on why he was outside, how many came out, and what anyone said before the shot. The footage will settle it.

What the police did with the earlier cases

Daily Maverick’s Caryn Dolley has the police side of at least one earlier incident. Earlier this year, possible MAC’S bikers visited a Pretoria venue. Based on police feedback, she reports, cases for malicious damage to property and armed robbery followed. In each case the police arrested and charged a suspect. The court then postponed the matter for further investigation.

Daily Maverick does not name the venue, so it may or may not be John’s bar. The publication also sent the SAPS questions about the wider tensions between the clubs, twice, and received no answer. So the police did act on some cases. But arrests followed by postponements did not make the people who laid the charges feel safer. They did not stop 10 October either.

What the Crusaders have said

The Crusaders’ leadership has said nothing about the videos. Daily Maverick reports that national vice-president Eddie Jacobsen sent his sympathy to everyone affected. He said the matter is sub judice. The MAC’S statement also refers to a statement by a lawyer who signs as Crusaders Legal. It calls that statement factually incorrect. I could not find that statement published anywhere.

However, Marizka Coetzer, a reporter at The Citizen, described it in a video on her own channel on 16 October.

“While the Crusaders initially denied a war, in their latest statement they referred to 18 months of friction with the MAC’S, and more.”

Marizka Coetzer, The Citizen, in a video on her own channel, 16 October 2026

I have not seen that statement, so that line rests on her account. In the same video she says many bars have banned colours and cuts since the shooting. The Little Britain Pub’s ban is the only one on the record. On 18 October the pub said the public makes up about 90% of its regulars. Those customers walk out at the sight of a patch. A day later it banned a third club, Chapter Thirteen, after its president reportedly said his club keeps score.

My view

Since my last video, both clubs have spoken on the record. But neither has answered the specific allegations in Rapport’s story. The MAC’S signed statement does not deal with Smith, the bar owner or Koos by name. Point 6 says the most. The club says the information about the incidents it does know of shows only chosen portions. That is not a denial that those incidents happened.

The most serious claims come from men whose names Rapport changed, because they fear what will happen to them. I understand why. But it means only the police and a court can test those claims. On 20 October, Brian Smith applies for bail, and his side may put its version on the record for the first time.

If a detail in this story is wrong

I tell these stories from on-the-record accounts. I am not a journalist, and I cannot place your story on the record. So if you believe a detail is wrong, contact the outlet that published it. Only the media can correct the public record. You can still send me the full story through my website. But one person’s full story remains one side of it.

Sources

• Rapport / News24, Marizanne Kok, ‘Biker wars: Pretoria’s deadly feud of beatings, threats, and bullets’, 18 October 2026: news24.com
• Daily Maverick, Caryn Dolley, ‘How a bullet has exposed battles between two of SA’s biggest biker groups’, 16 October 2026: dailymaverick.co.za
• Nuusflits, Wanda Olivier, ‘Man in hof ná noodlottige skietery by Waterkloof-kroeg’, 13 October 2026: nuusflits.com
• News24, Alex Mitchley, ‘Crusaders biker accused of killing MAC’S member has lengthy police profile, court hears’, 13 October 2026: news24.com; News24, ‘Today’s top 7 stories’, 13 October 2026: news24.com
• MAC’S Motorcycle Club, public statement signed by Mannetjies Geyser, 15 October 2026, posted on the club’s page.
• Little Britain Pub, posts of 15, 18 and 19 October 2026 on the pub’s page.
• Marizka Coetzer, ‘The BIKER WAR: It all started with the TriAlliance’, video on her own channel, 16 October 2026: youtube.com; author page at The Citizen: citizen.co.za
• The Riaan Roux Show, earlier videos: Biker War in Pretoria? One Dead After Waterkloof Pub Shooting and Biker War in Pretoria? Who Is Telling the Real Story
• Photos: Baden Watson, News24, 13 October 2026. Marizka Coetzer, The Citizen. Screenshots of the reports, posts and the statement are used for news reporting and commentary.