Magistrate cautions defence attorney during Janse van Rensburg trial in Malalane

Magistrate Jacob Mamabolo had his work cut out for him during Wednesday’s (July 22) proceedings in the Malalane Periodical Court, where the investigating officer in the Zietta Janse van Rensburg case testified. According toLowvelder, the suspended Malelane attorney stands accused of fraud, forgery and uttering and has pleaded not guilty to all charges against her. On more than one occasion, Mamabolo had to intervene and address the defence attorney, Marco Lamberti, about his line of questioning and advise him not to lecture investigating officer Sergeant Eketsane Maile, but to question him.

It started early in the proceedings when senior state prosecutor Tobie Steyn was introducing his witness and Lamberti interrupted. Steyn objected and said it was getting difficult to execute his duties with the continuous interruptions. Maile has 17 years of experience as an investigating officer and told the court that the complainant in the case, Rita van den Berg, saw him in June 2023 to open a case after she had received a settlement agreement bearing her signature, which she claimed had been falsified.

She named two suspects, Grant Taylor and Janse van Rensburg, and Maile then contacted Janse van Rensburg to obtain a warning statement. She agreed to come and see him. Maile testified that he followed protocol and explained her rights and the nature of the investigation, which was alleged fraud and included the falsification of signatures.

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He said that he wanted to present her with the settlement agreement, which is central to the investigation, but that she said it was unnecessary as she was already aware of it. She offered to write her own statement.The statement reflects that Janse van Rensburg drafted a settlement agreement for her client, Grant Taylor, and sent it to him. She allegedly received a signed copy in return.

Taylor was the party with who Van den Berg was in dispute. Maile testified that he asked Janse van Rensburg for a copy of the agreement and saw that it did not contain any signatures. Steyn presented several exhibits to Maile, which included emails between Van den Berg and her attorney at the time, Schalk de Waal.

Maile said he presented the agreement in question to De Waal, which – according to the print-outs – reflected that its origins were with De Waal. He immediately denied knowing anything about it. Steyn informed Maile that Janse van Rensburg’s version was that a representative from De Waal’s office had sent the agreement to her and she merely forwarded it to Taylor.

Steyn questioned Maile on whether Janse van Rensburg had ever communicated this version to him, and Maile said no. According to Maile, Janse van Rensburg never asked him to investigate her claim that the settlement agreement had originated from De Waal’s office. Nor did she open a case or ask the police to investigate that version of events.

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