MALALANE: Zietta Janse van Rensburg was arrested in\u202fMalalane\u202fby the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks)\u202ftoday (April 13).<\/p>\n
Both arrests were confirmed by Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel\u00a0Magonseni\u00a0Nkosi.<\/p>\n
In a voice note to\u00a0Lowvelder, Johan Janse van Rensburg confirmed that the Hawks \u2018semi-arrested\u2019 him and that he was in the car with them on his way to Mbombela. Johan is the sole proprietor of Van Rensburg Attorneys, the firm where\u00a0Zietta\u00a0was employed during several of the controversial transactions linked to cases investigated against her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more: The Onderberg\u2019s Zietta van Rensburg implicated in \u2018serious misconduct\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Since 2021, at least seven criminal cases have been brought against\u00a0Zietta, all relating to work she carried out while practising as an attorney in\u202fMalalane.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Numerous clients lodged complaints with the Legal Practice Council (LPC), after which she was suspended and\u202fsubsequently\u202ffound guilty of misconduct in disciplinary proceedings.<\/p>\n The Mpumalanga High Court was scheduled to hear the LPC\u2019s application to have her struck from the roll in January 2026,\u00a0but the matter\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0placed on the roll.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n LPC spokesperson Kabelo\u00a0Letebele\u00a0confirmed to\u00a0Lowvelder\u00a0on Friday, April 10, that the LPC intends to\u00a0proceed\u00a0with the matter, but was unable to provide a timeline, as\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0determined\u00a0by the court\u2019s directive on the completion of Form\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Also read: Millions lost in Giyani mining deal<\/a><\/p>\n The matter was previously removed from the court roll due to non-compliance with directives relating to the filing of Form B. While the LPC submitted the form,\u00a0Zietta\u00a0did not.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The LPC has since decided to appoint counsel in the matter due to its complexity and what it described as delays on the part of\u00a0Zietta.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n According to a press statement from the Hawks, today\u2019s arrest is in connection with fraud linked to R14m under the pretext of facilitating the sale of a business site in Nelspruit.<\/p>\n Read more: Six weeks of no access to bank accounts: Malalane attorney\u2019s clients receive no help from bank<\/a><\/p>\n It is stated that: \u201cInvestigations further revealed that the funds were deposited into the bank account of the male suspect, her father-in-law, in what is believed to have been an attempt to conceal the proceeds of the alleged crime.<\/p>\n \u201cA lengthy and detailed investigation was conducted, during which investigators followed the financial trail, ultimately leading to the arrest of the two suspects.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has also been established that the female suspect was previously arrested in connection with similar, unrelated cases.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a complex and challenging case, which contributed to the duration of the investigation. However, we were committed to ensuring a thorough process to build a watertight case that will support successful prosecution,\u201d said the provincial head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Major General Nico Gerber.<\/p>\n Businessman\u00a0left out of pocket\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Lowvelder reported on the property deal in April 2024. In this bizarre case in the\u00a0Zietta\u00a0saga,\u202fa businessman paid R14.4m for a property on which he intended to build a new store, only to be left out of pocket and without any legitimate proof of ownership.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The story was published after the\u202fbusinessman, who wishes to remain anonymous, instructed his Johannesburg-based legal team to provide details of the transaction to the newspaper.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n His ordeal began at the end of 2017, when he appointed Van Rensburg Attorneys to\u202flocate\u202fa suitable property in the Nelspruit area for a new development.\u202fHe claims\u00a0Zietta, who worked for the legal firm, contacted him in March 2018 and informed him that she had found the perfect stand, allegedly owned by\u202fSeramix\u202f(Pty) Ltd.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Property purchase payment plan\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The purchase price was set at R13m. Payment arrangements dictated that a deposit of R8m be paid into Van Rensburg Attorneys\u2019 trust account. Of this amount, R500\u202f000 was to be paid to the\u202fpurported seller, Dani\u00ebl van der Merwe of\u202fSeramix.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Guarantees totalling R7.5m were\u202frequired, payable to\u202fSeramix\u202fupon registration of the property, which was\u202freportedly to\u202fbe handled by Van Rensburg Attorneys.\u202f<\/p>\n According to the\u202fbusinessman\u2019s attorney,\u00a0Zietta\u00a0requested that, in addition to the R13m purchase price, transfer costs of R1\u202f405 761 also be paid into the firm\u2019s trust account.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Soon after, the\u202fbusinessman\u202fwas assured that the deal had been concluded and that the transfer process had\u202fcommenced. On September 23, 2019, he was informed that registration was complete.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Title deed\u202fhunt\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For\u202fnearly 11\u202fmonths thereafter, repeated requests to\u00a0Zietta\u00a0for the title deed\u00a0allegedly\u00a0went unanswered.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n Frustrated, the\u202fbusinessman\u202fappointed a Nelspruit-based firm in September 2020 to investigate the status of the transaction.\u202f<\/p>\n A month later,\u00a0Zietta\u00a0produced a title deed that\u202fostensibly confirmed\u202fthe property,\u202fidentified\u202fby its erf description, had been registered in the businessman\u2019s name.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But something\u202fdidn\u2019t\u202fadd up.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Nelspruit attorney probed further and discovered that the property was still legally registered in the name of a close corporation, and that transfer never took place. Even more concerning, documentation showed that a legal firm, Suliman &\u202fMaistry, had allegedly\u202ffacilitated\u202fthe transfer, with funds paid into what was believed to be their trust account.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n However, further investigation revealed the\u202fsupposed owner\u202fof the title deed was an entirely unrelated entity,\u202funknown to the buyer.\u202f<\/p>\n Compounding this, the sale agreement was\u202fpurportedly signed\u202fby Van der Merwe, identified as the director of\u202fSeramix, on March 27, 2018. This would have been impossible, as he had died on December 11, 2017, several months before the agreement was concluded.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It also\u202femerged\u202fthat\u202fSeramix\u202fwas\u202fin the process of deregistration, a\u202ffact\u00a0allegedly\u00a0never\u202fdisclosed\u202fto the\u202fbusinessman.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n