Trial date finally set in murder of well-known Mokopane attorney Schalk Pienaar
17 January 2024
Nearly fourteen months after well-known Mokopane attorney Schalk Pienaar was murdered, a trial date has been set for the man accused of orchestrating the crime. Pienaar was murdered on 19 September 2022 shortly after arriving at home. He was shot ten times in his driveway. Tsholofelo Joseph Motsoane was arrested the following month and charged with the crime. A second accused was also arrested but charges against him were later withdrawn.
Motsoane has been charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and other firearm-related charges and is believed to have been the driver of the getaway car. The police are still trying to trace other suspects linked to the murder.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit represents the Pienaar family, who approached the unit after numerous delays in finalising the case. In successive court appearances spanning months since Motsoane’s arrest, the matter was postponed but inexplicably a trial date was not set, until recently. The delays caused the family anxiety because of the possibility of justice not being served.
On Tuesday, 16 January, Motsoane appeared in the Mokopane Magistrates Court to apply for bail, but the matter did not proceed because his attorney did not have the required documentation to prove her right of appearance.