Joburg High Court expected to hear arguments from Daily Maverick on gag order

JOHANNESBURG - The Johannesburg High Court is expected to hear arguments from Daily Maverick and Gauteng businessman Collen Mashawana on Wednesday afternoon following a gag order which was served to the publication and one of its journalists.

Mashawana had filed an urgent application with the court in an attempt to stop the publication from reporting further about him.

He also wants the publication to remove stories published about him, which were posted this month.

As part of an investigative story, Daily Maverick has revealed daming allegations, linking the businessman through his Collen Mashawana Foundation, to some payments made towards a CEO’s Waterfall property.

On 21 August 2025, Collen Mashawana filed urgent papers to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg.

He wants Pieter-Louis Myburg’s article, which details his findings of the alleged corruptionscandal surrounding the suspended Independent Development Trust CEO, Tebogo Malaka.

There’s also video footage of the suspended CEO and her spokesperson seen handing over a sum of money to Myburg.

Myburg later explained that the cash was intended to ensure that his investigations into the luxury Waterfall property were halted.

The journalist had made further allegations linking the businessman to Malaka's luxury property, in which he, according to the publication, had made payments.

It has been reported that Mashawana had allegedly misused funds received from IDT (Independent Development Trust), leaving hundreds of expandedpublic works program employees with no pay.

Mashawana has since refuted the claims and has taken the legal route in an attempt to clear his name.