Journalist Jacques Pauw off the hook after V&A Waterfront restaurant withdraws criminal charge

A criminal charge against prominent journalist Jacques Pauw has been withdrawn.         

The veteran investigative journalist and author of the book The President’s Keepers became the news when he claimed in his Daily Maverick article that he had been mistreated by police, arrested and detained following an incident at a restaurant at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

In the article he claimed he had lost R1,000. He later withdrew the claim.

According to Eric Ntabazalila, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape, the journalist had faced a charge of fraud, alternatively theft.

Pauw was due to appear in the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Tuesday, but Ntabazalila revealed the charge had been withdrawn.

“I have just been informed by the prosecutor that the charge against Jacques Pauw has been withdrawn at the request of the complainant [the restaurant],” said Ntabazalila.

Pauw was not immediately available for comment. 

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