The SA Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (Saripa) has called on the government to ensure the safety of those working in the sector after the killing of a high-profile member and his son in what some have labelled a targeted assassination.
Insolvency practitioner Cloete Murray and his son Thomas were fatally shot on the N1 near Midrand, Johannesburg, on Saturday afternoon. Thomas Murray was declared dead on the scene, while his father was rushed to hospital but died from his injuries the following morning. Paramedics at the scene of the shooting on Saturday said both men had been shot several times.
“The master of the high court appoints liquidators to carry out their roles independently and professionally, and they should be able to do so without fear or favour,” Saripa said in a statement on Monday. “Government recognises the importance of the insolvency profession in SA, and in this spirit we need the support of government to allow our members to practise in safety, and where they can continue to make a contribution to our country without having to live in fear.”
Murray senior was the court-appointed liquidator for state contractor Bosasa, now known as African Global Operations, which specialised in providing services to the government, particularly in correctional services. Bosasa went into voluntary liquidation in February 2019 after several of its senior executives were implicated in corruption linked to state capture.
The allegations, aired at the commission of inquiry headed by chief justice Raymond Zondo, included video footage of Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson counting piles of cash allegedly used to bribe government officials in exchange for contracts.
Watson died in a car accident in August 2019 when his car struck a pillar en route to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. It was later reported that a private pathology report requested by the Watson family said he was already dead at the time of the accident.
SA Police Service Col Dimakatso Sello said in a statement that the police in Midrand were investigating two cases of murder for the deaths of Cloete and Thomas Murray. Yet many critics have labelled the killings a targeted hit, with at least one senior Saripa member, who asked not to be named, telling Business Day on Sunday that the Murray slayings had sent “a huge shock” through SA’s business rescue and insolvency industry.
Saripa chair Eric Levenstein, who is also a director at Werksmans Attorneys, described the Murray killings as “a tragic loss for the liquidation industry in SA”.
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee told TV channel eNCA that Murray senior and his son, a legal adviser, were involved in a number of high-profile insolvency cases. Abramjee also alluded to concerns raised by Cloete senior about attempts to “get rid of him” after a dispute at the masters office in Pretoria linked to his appointment as liquidator of Bosasa.
News24 reported in September 2021 that the department of justice suspended two officials who worked in the Pretoria masters office — Theresia Bezuidenhout and Christene Rossouw — for allegations including the appointment of Murray senior as liquidator of Bosasa without following “established practices”.
Murray senior told Business Day in March 2019 that he would investigate the roughly R2m reportedly paid by Bosasa to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s son Andile. Ramaphosa junior’s Blue Crane Capital signed a contract with Bosasa in December 2017, when his father won the ANC leadership battle, that saw his firm receive R150,000 a month for “advisory” fees, later increased to R230,000 a month.
The incident on Saturday “was an assassination attempt on him”, Abramjee told eNCA hours before Murray senior’s death. “Clearly, a targeted attack in broad daylight on one of SA’s busiest freeways.”
In January, Peter van den Steen, the court-appointed curator for Optimum Coal, resigned after he and his family received death threats. The Optimum Coal Mine and the Optimum Coal Terminal were owned by the state capture-linked Gupta family before being placed into business rescue in 2018.
The National Prosecuting Authority said after Van den Steen’s resignation that its drive to have Optimum Coal’s assets legally forfeited to the state would not be derailed. But almost a year after Rajesh and Atul Gupta were arrested in Dubai, they have not been repatriated to face justice for their alleged role in state capture. With TimesLIVE
Updated: March 20 2023
This story has been updated with fresh comment from Saripa.
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