A Sunday Times journalist arrested for fraud and defeating the ends of justice is "likely" to appear in court on Friday, the Hawks said on Thursday.

Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi said the journalist would appear in Kabokweni District Court in Mpumalanga on Friday but two others who were arrested in Nelspruit on the same case would appear on Thursday. Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley had identified the journalist as Mzilikazi wa Afrika.

"He was arrested by a large number of policemen in an operation which was clearly designed to intimidate and I can only conclude that this was the true motive for what took place today [Wednesday]," said Hartley.

Hartley said Wa Afrika was one of the journalists who worked on an article that alleged police commissioner General Bheki Cele had leased new police headquarters for R500 million without following normal tender processes.

"I hope, for the sake of our country, that he was not arrested on spurious charges in order to punish him for what he wrote," he said.