At an urgent hearing at the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) late on Sunday night, lawyers for former Moti Group legal adviser Clinton van Niekerk successfully applied for an interdict blocking him from being forced to come out of the witness protection programme to face charges from the company, reports News24.

Van Niekerk’s Advocate Reg Willis SC, stressed that Van Niekerk was not seeking to have the arrest warrant set aside. Instead, he asked that, in addition to Van Niekerk’s lawyers gaining access to the arrest warrant, he be allowed to appear in court via a video link or virtual platform.

‘We merely ask that our client not be brought into the open so he can be harmed, including possibly murdered, my lord,’ Willis told Acting Judge Stephens Thobane.

The advocate further argued that the 28-year-old and his legal team had reason to fear that the people behind the arrest warrant wanted to ‘harm’ him.

Willis said Van Niekerk was being prepared as a potential witness against the same parties who were not only pursuing criminal complaints against him, but were also seeking to set aside his agreement with the Directorate of Witness Protection.

The Moti Group has made it clear, however, that it regards Van Niekerk as a common criminal, and not a whistle-blower.

It accuses Van Niekerk of having ‘stolen’ thousands of downloaded company documents, which it claimed were then unlawfully used by amaBhungane to report on its business practices.

Van Niekerk’s attorney, Stephen May, said his client had gone into the witness protection programme in February 2023 after he was ‘unlawfully arrested’ on criminal charges laid against him by the group in late 2022, and then released.

According to News24, on 29 May, May added, he became aware that a letter had been sent to witness protection head Advocate Ronnie Borcherds from a Hawks commander identified as Colonel MS Komane and a Sergeant TM Sekgale.

In that letter, which is attached to Van Niekerk’s urgent application, Borcherds is informed that Van Niekerk will be charged with ‘with contravening sections 2 and 12 of the Cybercrimes (sic) Act No. 19 of 2020’ and would need to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.

After learning that arrangements were being made for Van Niekerk to be arrested and appear before court on 4 June (today) 2025, May sent multiple emails to various law enforcement officials in an effort to establish the exact nature of the charges Van Niekerk would face and what his bail procedure would be.

He stressed that neither himself nor Van Niekerk were informed about the arrangements for his mooted court appearance – and no one in law enforcement responded to his emails.

On Sunday night, Johannesburg State Attorney Matshepo Beverley Mobeng said she had been informed via WhatsApp that a senior Hawks official had given instructions that government lawyers should oppose Van Niekerk’s legal action.

But, in the absence of any proper legal application, Thobane allowed Willis to proceed with his argument for the interdict he argued would ensure Van Niekerk was kept safe – and then granted all of the orders the advocate asked for.

Full News24 report