Bouwer van Niekerk was shot dead at the offices of Smit Sew Attorneys and Conveyancers in Saxonwold on Friday.
The legal community and parliamentarians have called for greater protection for those investigating high-profile corruption cases.
Insolvency lawyer Bouwer van Niekerk was shot in Johannesburg in what is believed to be a targeted attack on those standing up to criminal elements.
Van Niekerk had previously worked on a case involving the Guptas and had spoken out against the unsolved murders of Babita Deokaran and Cloete and Thomas Murray.
Climate of fear
Chairperson of the portfolio committee on police Ian Cameron lamented the lack of progress made on the Deokaran and Murray cases.
Speaking after the news of Van Niekerk’s murder, Cameron said the incident exacerbated the fearful conditions legal investigators worked under.
“When lawyers and investigators are targeted, it is not just individuals who are silenced, it is likely justice itself that is being attacked,” Cameron posted on X.
“South Africa cannot accept a climate where organised crime dictates who lives and who dies while accountability stalls.”
News24 reported on Saturday that Van Niekerk had received death threats in the days prior to his murder.
He was reportedly working on a business rescue case involving a large ponzi scheme.
‘Courageous’ professionals
The South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (Saripa) sent its condolences to Van Niekerk’s friends and family.
Saripa chairperson Jo Mitchell-Marais said the killing of legal professionals was an assault of the country’s judicial system.
“Our members must be able to carry out their work without fear or intimidation and violence,” stated Mitchell-Marais.
“It is heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable that in South Africa, courageous, ethical professionals should have to pay with their lives simply for doing their jobs,” she added.
Van Niekerk’s murder comes two and half years after the murder of the Murrays and four after Deokaran’s murder.
“Unless the state acts decisively, the message will remain that justice in South Africa can be eliminated at gunpoint,” Cameron concluded.
NOW READ: Remembering Babita Deokaran: Family calls on Ramaphosa for justice [VIDEO]
