The job that has become one of the most dangerous professions in South Africa
A legal practitioner has become one of the most dangerous professions in South Africa, with prosecutors, attorneys, and other professionals increasingly being targeted in shootings.
At least six legal practitioners have been murdered in targeted shootings between April 2025 and November 2026, while several other attacks have taken place outside courts, near legal offices, and on public roads.
The killings have raised serious concerns about the safety of those responsible for upholding the law and the growing influence of criminal syndicates over the country’s justice system.
One of the earliest attacks in this period was the murder of state prosecutor Elona Sombulula in Ngcobo, Eastern Cape, in April 2025. She was killed with a single gunshot to the head.
In July 2025, another state prosecutor, Tracy Brown, was gunned down in Gqeberha in front of her partner and child.
The following September, prominent insolvency and business rescue attorney Bouwer van Niekerk was murdered inside his Saxonwold office in Johannesburg. Four suspects, reportedly posing as clients, entered his boardroom and shot him dead.
Nothing was stolen during the attack, and Van Niekerk had reportedly received death threats days earlier, warning him to abandon an insolvency case involving an alleged Ponzi scheme.
In January 2026, three gunmen opened fire on a group walking down the steps of Booysens Magistrate’s Court following a murder case.
Two people were killed and three others wounded, including the defence attorney representing the accused.
In March, labour attorney Chinette Gallichan was shot dead at point-blank range as she stepped out of her vehicle near the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in Johannesburg’s CBD.
More recently, on 2 November, 30-year-old Johannesburg attorney Nadine Meintjes was killed in an ambush on the Klipspruit West off-ramp. Gunmen opened fire on her Toyota Urban Cruiser, killing both Meintjes and her male passenger.
A constitutional emergency
Meintjes practised at DVB Attorneys and handled several court matters involving gangs and political figures in Eldorado Park.
Police have opened a double murder investigation, but no arrests have been reported. Investigators are still determining whether Meintjes, her passenger or both were the intended targets.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has highlighted how organised criminal networks increasingly target people involved in financial investigations, insolvency proceedings, and high-stakes legal disputes.
These include liquidators, insolvency practitioners, criminal defence lawyers, labour attorneys, prosecutors, and municipal auditors who may uncover illicit financial activities or threaten the interests of powerful individuals.
Organised crime-related assassinations reportedly increased sharply in 2026, with 78 incidents recorded in the first nine months of the year, compared with 44 throughout 2025.
The FW de Klerk Foundation has described the situation as a constitutional emergency and warned that the killings represent a direct assault on the rule of law and the country’s constitutional order.
Christo van der Rheede, executive director of the foundation, said the targeted killings threatened the foundations of South Africa’s democracy.
“The cold-blooded targeting of legal practitioners is a direct attempt to paralyse the very heart of our democracy,” he said.
“When the defenders of our laws are hunted down for simply doing their jobs, we are witnessing the erosion of the state’s authority. We cannot allow hitmen and criminal syndicates to dictate the limits of justice in South Africa.”
Van der Rheede warned that the consequences extended beyond the legal profession. “If our legal officers are not safe, no citizen is safe, and the constitutional promise of a just society becomes a hollowed-out shell.”
The foundation has called on the President and the Ministers of Justice and Police to lead a coordinated government response.
Its proposals include specialised prosecution teams dedicated to crimes against legal practitioners and judicial officers, better integration of police, prosecutorial and forensic crime data, and stronger protection for legal professionals facing threats.
It has also called on authorities to use the Prevention of Organised Crime Act to target the leadership of criminal syndicates that use violence to influence legal outcomes.
The foundation said South Africa needed to ensure that the rule of law, rather than fear, determined the country’s future.
Loading ...