State says Robert Wolk was killed off a hit list
Racing champion Robert Wolk was shot dead next to a road in Esther Park, Kempton Park, on 16 September 2026, and for several days the killing was reported across South Africa as a road rage incident. In the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on 21 September, the State said it was a planned killing and that Wolk’s name was on a list of 4 people at a workplace. Three men face 6 charges each, including murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and the case returns to court on 29 September. Two newsrooms that covered the same hearing published conflicting accounts of who is alleged to have ordered the killing.
What the State told the court
Khotso Richard Mashao, Hlanganani Shezi and Muziwethu Mthethwa appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday 21 September 2026. Each faces murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.
State prosecutor Dinao Makwala said there was a plan to kill 4 people who worked at a company, and that Wolk’s name was on that list. On 16 September the accused went to the company, where Wolk was the only one of the 4 who was at work that day. The State said they followed him when he left and collided with his vehicle in Esther Park. When Wolk stopped and got out, he was shot, and his cellphone was taken.
The Kempton Express has reported that Wolk was on his way to catch a flight to Cape Town when he was killed. He was due to race at the Killarney International Raceway that weekend.
None of this has been tested. It is the State’s case at a first appearance, and the 3 accused are presumed innocent until a court decides otherwise.
Two versions of who ordered it
The 2 newsrooms that had reporters at the hearing did not publish the same account of the most important part of the case.
TimesLive reported that the State said Mashao had been hired to kill the 4 people, and that he then hired Shezi and Mthethwa to help him. News24 reported that the State said Mashao compiled the hit list himself and hired the other 2 men to carry out the killings.
The difference decides how much of this case is still open. On the News24 version, the person who wanted these people dead is in custody. On the TimesLive version, somebody paid Mashao, and that person has not been named or arrested.
The 2 reports also differ on how many men followed Wolk. TimesLive reported that all 3 went to the company and followed him. News24 reported that Shezi and Mthethwa followed him and got out of the Jetta.
Everything else now circulating in Business Day, IOL, TopAuto, Briefly and on the wires is one of these 2 reports republished. Neither has been corrected, and the State has not clarified the point in public.
The company is not named here
The State did not name the company in open court, and this article does not name it either.
Three of the 4 people on that list are alive, and on the State’s own case they are alive only because they did not go to work on 16 September. Naming their employer would narrow those 3 people down to a staff list for anybody who wants to find them. Nobody has said publicly whether they have been warned or given any protection.
The car and the man it was taken from
The blue Volkswagen Jetta 5 used to stop Wolk was hijacked on 15 August 2026. Makwala told the court that the owner of the Jetta was shot 7 times in the stomach, and according to News24 she said he was certified dead. The TimesLive report of the same hearing does not say that he died.
Before the court appearance, the City of Ekurhuleni said the vehicle had been found to be linked to 2 other cases of hijacking and murder. No further detail on those cases has been made public, and nobody has said whether charges will follow in either of them.
The arrests
The City of Ekurhuleni said a joint operation was activated after investigators received credible information, bringing together the EMPD Northern Region Task Team, SAPS Crime Intelligence and the private security company Blue Hawk. One suspect was arrested in the Spartan area and 2 others at Enhlanzeni Hostel, where the Jetta was recovered. A Beretta pistol with its serial number filed off, together with 17 rounds of live ammunition, was recovered at a house on Allandale Farm in Mayibuye, and police believe it is the firearm that was used.
In court, the State said the task team acted on information from an informer, which led to Mashao, and that Mthethwa was later arrested allegedly in possession of the Jetta.
The City said the suspects were tracked and intercepted within 24 hours of the incident. The police gave different dates. Sebenza SAPS told the Kempton Express that the first arrest was made on the night of 18 September and the other 2 on the morning of 19 September. The shooting took place at about 16:20 on 16 September, which puts the first arrest more than 2 days later. EMPD Chief of Police IJ Mapiyeye commended the officers involved, and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi welcomed the arrests publicly.
Where the shooting happened
The location has been published in 3 forms. The City of Ekurhuleni gave the intersection as Parklands and Cawood Streets in Esther Park. Gauteng police gave it on the day as the corner of Camwood Street and Portland Drive. A third version, Gamwood Street, also appeared in early reporting. The City’s version is the one that matches the account given in court.
What happens next
Magistrate Veena Krishna reserved a decision on an application by several publications to photograph and broadcast the proceedings, pending Shezi and Mthethwa obtaining legal representation. The case returns on 29 September for that ruling and for a formal bail application. Mashao, who was already represented, asked for his own bail application to be heard on 2 October.
Other theories about a motive are circulating online and on several podcasts, including claims tying the killing to a business dispute. No investigator or prosecutor has connected the killing to anything of that kind, none of it was put before the court, and this publication will not repeat it while that remains true.
Robert Wolk was 41. He won South African junior karting titles in 1995 and 1997, multiple Formula Ford championships, the Formula Volkswagen title in 2013, Formula 1600 in 2015, the GTC championship in 2021 and 2022, and the South African Touring Cars championship in 2024. In May he won his second Simola Hillclimb King of the Hill title, and in June he won at Aldo Scribante.
