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Senior advocate Coreth Naude is currently in a stable condition following an attempted assassination while on business for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in Durban.
She has been involved in several high-profile cases, including the recent tax investigation into the affairs of notorious tax evader Shauwn Mkhize.
SARS and Mkhize has been at loggerheads over the past decade over her business affairs.
Naude was shot outside a hotel in Durban after returning from a meeting.
According to reports she had been shot three times in the upper body and face.
Commissioner Edward Kieswetter condemned the attack. “This shocking act is intended to intimidate officers of court to abandon the vital work they’re performing in furtherance of our country’s legal system.”
He said in a statement that acts such as these and those who perpetrate it, must be resisted, and defeated by everyone who wants a better country and who wants to ensure that no one is above the law. “
We will not be intimidated by such acts of crime and cowardice.”
Serious concerns
Judith February, executive officer at Freedom under Law, said in a statement that the brazen attempt on Naude’s life raises serious concerns, especially around killings and attempted killings or assassinations of people undertaking investigations or whistleblowers like Babita Deokaran.
“Such killings are sadly not unique,” said February.
She referred to the assassination of Bosasa liquidators Thomas and Cloete Murray; the murder of Anti-Gang Unit police officer Charl Kinnear, who was investigating cases involving organised crime; and Deokaran’s murder.
Deokaran was the Gauteng Department of Health whistleblower who was killed after flagging a series of suspicious and potentially fraudulent transactions. In addition, forensic investigator Zenzele Sithole was shot dead in Johannesburg last week.
“These events, apart from causing unspeakable pain to the families of the victims, raise fundamental concerns that those who threaten to expose corruption are themselves at risk of assassination,” said February.
“They point to murder being used as a tool to delay, distort, and pervert the course of the law. This situation is untenable.”
February added that the attempted assassination of Naude has a potentially chilling effect on key role-players in the justice system, who should be able to do their jobs unhindered.
The cases
Naude has been involved in several high-profile cases in areas of administrative and corporate law, and has been recognised for her legal acumen and contributions to these fields.
The Durban-based Mkhize is no stranger to the courts and has recently caught the media limelight because of an alleged tax debt of R37 million.
She is the owner of soccer team Royal AM but is facing the seizure of some of her assets to pay for the debt.
This is not her first fight with SARS.
Mkhize and her former husband Sbu Mpisane’s company Zikhulise Cleaning Maintenance and Transport Service were awarded government tenders worth over R1 billion in the early 2000’s despite ongoing criminal and other investigations against the glamour couple.
In 2020, the Pretoria High Court issued a final liquidation order against Mkhize’s company, for outstanding debts totalling about R204 million.
In an attempt to retrieve some of its tax debt, SARS seized some of her and her then husband’s assets which included a three-storey home in La Lucia, a farm in KwaZulu-Natal and some luxury vehicles.
The courts at the time made several reverences to the conduct of the companies, specifically ceding state tenders to the detriment of its creditor SARS and benefitting from state funding yet avoiding its tax obligations.
“SARS call on our law enforcement agencies to act with speed is pursuing and arresting those who attempted to take a life of advocate Naude,” Kieswetter said shortly after the news about her shooting became public.
This story first appeared in Moneyweb and is republished with permission.
