The job that could get you killed in South Africa

Cape Town – South Africa’s legal profession is facing growing threats of targeted assassinations, with at least six legal practitioners murdered between April 2025 and November 2026, raising concerns about the safety of those working to uphold the country’s justice system.

According to BusinessTech, prosecutors, attorneys, insolvency practitioners and other legal professionals have increasingly become targets of shootings linked to their involvement in sensitive criminal, financial and legal disputes.

Among the victims was state prosecutor Elona Sombulula, who was murdered in the Eastern Cape in April 2025, followed by prosecutor Tracy Brown, who was gunned down in Gqeberha in July that year.

In September 2025, prominent insolvency and business rescue attorney Bouwer van Niekerk was shot dead inside his Saxonwold office in Johannesburg. He had reportedly received death threats days before his murder over an insolvency case involving an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Violence

The violence continued into 2026, with labour attorney Chinette Gallichan shot dead outside the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) offices in Johannesburg in March.

More recently, attorney Nadine Meintjes, 30, was killed alongside a male passenger in a shooting on the Klipspruit West off-ramp on November 2.

Daily Maverick reported that Meintjes had represented clients in cases involving gangs and political figures in Eldorado Park. Police opened a double murder investigation, although the circumstances and motive remained under investigation.

The growing attacks have prompted warnings that organised criminal networks are increasingly using violence to intimidate professionals whose work threatens their interests.

Research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) recorded 78 organised-crime-related assassination incidents in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 44 during the whole of 2025.

Erosion of the state’s security 

The organisation also identified 14 incidents involving people linked to the justice system, including police officers, witnesses, whistleblowers and an attorney.

The FW de Klerk Foundation has described the killings as a constitutional emergency, warning that attacks on legal professionals threaten the country’s democratic foundations.

“The cold-blooded targeting of legal practitioners is a direct attempt to paralyse the very heart of our democracy,” said the foundation’s executive director, Christo van der Rheede.

“When the defenders of our laws are hunted down for simply doing their jobs, we are witnessing the erosion of the state’s authority.”

The foundation has called for a coordinated government response, including specialised prosecution teams to investigate crimes against legal practitioners, stronger protection for professionals facing threats and improved cooperation between the police, prosecutors and forensic investigators.

It has also urged authorities to use the Prevention of Organised Crime Act to target criminal syndicates responsible for using violence to influence legal proceedings.

The growing insecurity has raised questions about whether South Africa’s legal professionals can continue performing their duties without fear of intimidation or assassination.

Picture: Pixabay

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

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