JOHANNESBURG – The alleged mastermind in the murder of media personality Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock has been warned that he will not be given further indulgences to resolve his legal representation, after his attorney withdrew from the case.
Victor Majola, 44, appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on Friday alongside newly added co-accused Hlengiwe Goodness Buthelezi, 40.
Majola’s attorney, Du Plessis, told the court he could no longer represent the accused.
The withdrawal follows months in which Majola and his family failed to secure funding for a trial expected to run about 20 days.
Majola told the court he would have to consult his family before deciding on the way forward.
Judge William Karam warned him that the court could not continue postponing the matter.
“Mr Majola, you need to understand that no further indulgence will be offered to you,” the judge said, noting that the court had accommodated him on previous occasions for the same reason.
The court again advised Majola that he may apply for Legal Aid or appoint a more affordable legal practitioner if he cannot fund a private defence.
Buthelezi, who is also unrepresented, likewise asked for time to consult her family, telling the court she had not seen them since her arrest and still had to decide between a private attorney and Legal Aid.
Karam postponed the matter to Thursday, 8 October 2026, when both accused must advise the court of their position on legal representation.
Buthelezi was arrested in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, earlier this month after police circulated her photograph and appealed for help in locating her.
She abandoned her bail application at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 11 September and was remanded in custody.
She had previously been arrested alongside Majola at a Soweto hostel in December 2025, but was released at the time for lack of evidence.
Both accused face charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Stock’s killing. Stock was shot dead outside the Zambesi Building in Johannesburg’s CBD on 16 December 2025.
The second accused, Mozambican national Joaquim Armando Pacula, 25, entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State and was sentenced to an effective 25 years’ imprisonment for the murder, together with sentences for unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and contravening the Immigration Act.
He admitted shooting Stock in exchange for payment.
The State alleges that Buthelezi forwarded information and photographs relating to Stock’s vehicle and that of his business partner to Majola.
Those allegations have not been tested in the High Court.
During Majola’s earlier bail proceedings, investigating officer Captain Abe Montwedi of the Gauteng Investigation Unit testified that the killing stemmed from a dispute over the management of the Zambesi Building.
Montwedi told the court that after the building’s owner died in 2018, monthly rental income dropped from more than R700,000 to about R400,000, raising suspicions that tenants were collecting rent from other occupants without paying it over.
Stock’s security company was appointed to assist, and announced plans to introduce biometric access control and permits for residents.
“This angered those who were illegally collecting money,” Montwedi testified.
He said Stock subsequently applied for a protection order against six individuals linked to the building, among them Majola’s partner, after allegedly receiving threats.
The investigating officer further testified that CCTV footage from a nearby butchery allegedly showed Majola arriving with the suspected shooter, sitting with him before the killing and leaving with him afterwards.
Police allegedly found documents relating to Stock and his business partner on Majola’s phone, while data extracted from his partner’s phone allegedly showed that information and photographs had been sent to him.
Majola has denied any involvement.
His defence maintained during the bail application that he was in Soweto at the time of the shooting and that the case against him rested on mistaken identity
