Manhunt continues for four suspects in Bouwer Van Niekerk case. Image: SAPoliceService
Manhunt Underway for Four Suspects in Brazen Hit
(The Post News) – The legal community in South Africa has been shaken by a targeted assassination that occurred in broad daylight, raising new worries about the safety of those battling corruption. Saxonwold is a wealthy area. On Friday, renowned insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk, 43, was shot and died at his business. Police are currently searching for four suspects who are said to have been engaged in the carefully thought-out “hit.”
According to Gauteng police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, four men arrived at Van Niekerk’s offices in a GMW vehicle, posing as clients with a pre-arranged appointment. Two of the suspects entered the boardroom and fatally shot the lawyer. The assailants then fled the scene without stealing anything, an act police say points to a professional hit. Van Niekerk was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Pattern of Targeted Violence?
The murder has sent shockwaves through the country, with many drawing parallels to other high-profile assassinations of individuals who stood against organized crime. At the time of his death, Van Niekerk was reportedly working on a number of high-stakes cases, including a major insolvency case linked to an alleged Ponzi scheme and business rescue efforts for several Gupta-owned companies.
A little more than two years ago, Cloete and Thomas Murray, another father-son team of insolvency practitioners, were shot dead in a suspected hit-and-run on the M1 freeway. In the Bosasa case, Cloete Murray served as a liquidator and met the Gupta brothers. Similar to this, in 2021, Babita Deokaran, a whistleblower who revealed wrongdoing in the Gauteng Health Department, was killed. According to News24, in the days preceding his murder, Van Niekerk had been threatened with death, but he resisted.
Condemnation from Officials and the Legal Community
The incident was immediately denounced by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, who described it as a “senseless act of violence” and an assault on the rule of law itself. Kubayi, through her spokesperson Terence Manase, demanded a prompt and comprehensive inquiry to apprehend the offenders and “restore faith in our laws and law enforcement officers.”
Van Niekerk was murdered, and Jo Mitchell-Marais, the chairman of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA), called it a “direct assault on the country’s judicial system.” She was upset that “courageous, ethical professionals should have to pay with their lives simply for doing their jobs.”
In agreement, Ian Cameron, the chair of Parliament’s police portfolio committee, said that these kind of murders foster a “climate of fear.” He emphasized the need for the state to take immediate action against these assassinations, where “organized crime dictates who lives and who dies,”
Gauteng police are continuing their investigation into the motive behind the killing and are actively searching for the four suspects.
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