Fresh from being slapped with an interim court interdict over alleged death threats to a neighbour, former Gupta mine manager Gert van der Merwe is involved in another bitter legal dispute linked to a mining operation, with attorneys exchanging letters including allegations of death threats against minor children and claims that one party acted under what is described as an instruction from “god”.
In a letter dated January 29, Tabacks Attorneys, acting for Liberty Coal, accused George Peter van der Merwe, the former general manager at Optimum Colliery in Hendrina, Mpumalanga, of conduct they described as unlawful, intimidatory, and designed to interfere with their client’s operations.
Last week Wednesday the Mpumalanga High Court granted an interim interdict against Van der Merwe in an estate dispute that allegedly escalated to death threats, restricting him from contacting or approaching his neighbours, Gerhard and Martina Kolesky.
Central to the latest dispute is a criminal case relating to alleged fraud involving a forged document.
According to the letter, the case was opened by Van der Merwe himself, a shareholder in Salaria, and not by the engineer whom the opposing lawyers say was incorrectly cited in earlier correspondence.
Van der Merwe is a shareholder in Salaria, now under business rescue, which had provided services to Daniel McGowan’s Liberty Coal until the relationship collapsed.
Tabacks state that Van der Merwe has been involved in multiple disputes with their client arising from the cancellation of services connected to mining operations, with the recipient law firm, Theron Jordaan and Smit Inc., acting as attorneys of record in those matters.
However, it is the nature of the alleged threats that has drawn the sharpest response.
The letter claims that Van der Merwe made death threats against McGowan and his minor children and that these threats were accompanied by what the attorneys describe as an “unfounded and disturbing belief” that he had been sent by his “god” to carry them out.
On this basis, the attorneys say they are querying Van der Merwe’s capacity to issue instructions to his legal representatives while warning that their client will pursue action “to the fullest extent punishable in law” should the conduct persist.
The attorneys raise the allegations within the broader context of regulatory oversight.
Correspondence misleading
The letter references an inspection by officials from the Department of Mineral Resources at the client’s premises on January 19, stating that the inspection revealed no irregularities.
The attorneys allege that subsequent correspondence sent to “related authorities” was misleading and intended to exert pressure on the client during ongoing legal disputes.
The correspondence also accuses Van der Merwe of engaging in “subterfuge with local communities” and of acting with the assistance of representatives of organs of state to intimidate and harass the client into settling the dispute.
While these claims, like the allegations of threats and divine instruction, have not been tested in court, the letter forms part of an increasingly hostile exchange between legal teams, with each side accusing the other of improper conduct.
The email exchange is part of a response to an earlier correspondence from Leana Dunn, a candidate attorney at Theron, Jordaan & Smit Inc., acting on behalf of JA van Aswegen.
Dunn wrote that Van Aswegen requested access to the mining site solely to observe the de-establishment process, acting for and on behalf of the duly appointed business rescue practitioners.
She said that the request arose because van Aswegen was not included in the de-establishment plan.
She claimed that when representatives arrived on site that morning, access was refused. This point later becomes a central dispute between the legal teams.
Van der Merwe did not respond to questions sent to him directly on Tuesday and via an intermediary who promised to facilitate contact.
