Last Friday, attorney Bouwer van Niekerk was shot dead in his own office by people posing as clients. What is South Africa to make of this, Mr Minister? Will a 12-year-old boy ever know who killed his father, and more importantly, who ordered the hit?

Dear Mr Cachalia,

I write to you in desperation.

In March 2023, Bouwer van Niekerk wrote an opinion piece for News24. The murder of his fellow liquidators Cloete Murray and his son Thomas that past Saturday, said Van Niekerk, was "a stark reminder that those who are willing to investigate the trees with possibly very big, rotten roots may end up facing the deadliest of winds." He continued:

"What is the profession to make of these brutal killings? Are liquidators to live in fear of some dreadful fate that may befall them if they act as such in a highly contentious matter? ... Is this what we as professionals should now sign up for?"

It was chillingly prescient. Last Friday, Van Niekerk was shot dead in his own office by people posing as clients.

Bouwer van Niekerk. Murray Cloete. Thomas Cloete. Those names have caught the public's attention recently. I could also refer you to others who were working on corruption and criminal syndicates:

Simnikiwe Mapini, adjudicator, City of Ekurhuleni Finance Department, who was shot dead at a traffic light in Germiston on 8 December 2023;Zenzele Benedict Sithole, senior investigator, City of Johannesburg Group Forensics & Investigation Services (GFIS), who...