Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor leaves SA on eve of criminal trial, draws ire of ‘frustrated’ magistrate

Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Gary van Niekerk left South Africa for a conference in Germany on Sunday, days before he was due to go on trial for a series of charges relating to fraud and the alleged abuse of municipal money in 2022.

Van Niekerk was set to return to the dock on Wednesday, 10 September, but his attorney, Danie Gouws, told the court that he had only found out on Sunday that Van Niekerk had left for Germany.

And, when Daily Maverick asked him whether he had left the country to avoid his trial or simply to attend the conference, Van Niekerk replied by sending a WhatsApp emoji of comedian Trevor Noah laughing.

Documentation in Daily Maverick’s possession shows that mayor Babalwa Lobishe only received Van Niekerk’s application for permission to travel on Monday after he had already left. 

“I am approving because you have already [left],” a note written by Lobishe reads. “There is too much abnormality about this trip,” she continued. She pointed out that no conference form had been filed for the trip “on our intended relations”.

“My approval is based on humanity,” she added. “For your subsistence not [for] how the trip was organised and its intentions.”

The conference being attended by Van Niekerk and the metro’s director for international relations, Lulamile Moolman, is a partnership conference between German and African municipalities in Giessen, for discussions with Braunschweig, a sister city of Gqeberha.

Lobishe’s approval means Van Niekerk will be reimbursed for visa fees and will receive a “daily foreign subsistence allowance” of R16,300.

In 2022, Van Niekerk was removed as a councillor and from his position as council speaker due to internal party squabbles within the Northern Alliance. He was reinstated after a court order. After he was removed, however, he used the letterhead of the Office of the Speaker to obtain legal representation for himself, not the municipality – using municipal funds. This has cost the city R570,000.

He has always claimed that he had not done this for his own benefit but was acting “in defence of the Office of the Speaker”. 

The State alleges that he approved legal services from law firm Boqwana Burns Incorporated when it was not listed as one of the municipality’s preferred service providers. He is further accused of soliciting legal opinion from another law firm, McWilliams & Elliott. While the firm was listed as a preferred service provider, Van Niekerk’s request for a legal opinion had been denied by the acting city manager at the time, Selwyn Thys. 

The legal bills for Boqwana Burns Incorporated and McWilliams & Elliott came to R551,586 and R23,393, respectively. In an internal report, adopted by the council in November 2024, Van Niekerk was found guilty of misrepresenting himself to the attorneys as a councillor and Speaker of Council, even though his seat had been declared vacant.

It is understood that Van Niekerk settled these accounts himself.

After he was arrested on these charges by the Hawks he was also charged internally by the municipality and found guilty, with the committee stating that he must either be suspended or dismissed.

In December he was suspended from his job.

Given the close outcome of the election in Nelson Mandela Bay in 2021, with the DA and the ANC obtaining roughly the same number of votes, Van Niekerk’s party, now known as the National Alliance, holds the three “kingmaker” seats since no coalition can do without them. An ANC-led coalition is currently in charge.

However, in July, Eastern Cape cooperative governance MEC Zolile Williams ruled that Van Niekerk must only be reprimanded and not suspended or removed from council.

The ACDP’s Lance Grootboom, who laid the original charge against Van Niekerk, said the guilty finding by the committee stood, only the sanction had changed. 

He said that, because they were aggrieved by the MEC’s ruling, they had asked the Public Protector to investigate Van Niekerk and were awaiting the outcome. 

Warrant held over

The magistrate that was to hear Van Niekerk’s trial on Wednesday, Khuselwa Majali, issued a warrant for his arrest, but said it would be held over until Van Niekerk could appear in court in October to explain himself. 

If Majali is not satisfied with the deputy mayor's explanation, he could be slapped with a R5,000 fine or three months behind bars.

Gouws told the court that Van Niekerk had been invited to attend a deputy mayors’ workshop in Germany.

He said his client claimed the arrangements for the trip had been “very last minute”, but also said the invitation had been sent to Van Niekerk about three months ago.

Gouws said he was only notified when he spoke to his client on Sunday, shortly before his flight from Johannesburg to Germany.

Later in the day, Van Niekerk sent another response. He said the invitation was sent to his office and presented to the International Relations Subcommittee on 6 May, where it was approved for attendance.

He added that Lobishe initially did not support the trip, preferring it to be part of a planned calendar of international visits. But he claimed that the mayor was unaware that the subcommittee had already approved the trip.

According to Van Niekerk, the matter was clarified with Lobishe and resubmitted for discussion at a later subcommittee meeting. Van Niekerk also said he had spoken directly with the mayor, who gave her approval.

He added that, given the mayor’s other priorities, it was natural “that her signature was not appended immediately”. Van Niekerk concluded: “While I appreciate the interest of the media on me, my work and life, I must say that there is nothing criminal about this trip.”

Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya referred all questions back to Van Niekerk.

Senior State advocate Ken Cooney indicated that the State was ready to proceed with the trial and had even placed several witnesses on standby to give testimony before court.

Cooney said Van Niekerk had been aware of his trial date before receiving the invitation, yet disregarded proceedings to go on a “joyride” abroad.

He said that as a person who had held several prominent offices, including mayor, deputy mayor and Speaker, Van Niekerk should have been more professional and shown more respect to the court.

Majali agreed with Cooney, saying the trial date had already been confirmed in March and the accused showed disregard for court processes by not even notifying his attorney so that alternative arrangements could be made.

“He is wasting this court’s time. I am very frustrated,” Majali said.

She subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest, but ordered that it be held over until 6 October when Van Niekerk is due to return to court. 

Later on Wednesday a letter emerged, dated on Friday, 5 September, and addressed to “The Regional Court”, in which Van Niekerk asked to be excused from his court appearance. Daily Maverick had sight of the letter to the court in the official court file. 

His own attorney, however, only found out about the trip on Sunday, 7 September. The invitation for the conference, too, was dated June 2025. DM