LONG ARM OF LAW CATCHES UP WITH ‘APLA COMMANDER’
Appeal fails as ex-soldier asks to be admitted to Cape Law Society
An armed robbery two decades ago has come back to haunt an EC man denied admission as an attorney to the law society
An armed robbery committed more than two decades ago has come back to haunt an Eastern Cape man recently denied admission as an attorney to the Cape Law Society (CLS).
Ntsikelelo Mdyogolo, 49, a former Apla commander and ex-SA National Defence Force sergeant, had his appeal against a decision to bar him from practising as an attorney rejected by the Grahamstown High Court on Friday.
This was after he apparently lied in his application to the society about circumstances surrounding an armed robbery committed on June 19 1994.
In his application to the CLS, Mdyogolo said he had committed the robbery as a member of Apla, and on orders of his superiors. Apla, the PAC’s military wing, had waged a conventional and terror war on the apartheid regime.
However, his claim was later proven to be untrue as the armed struggle was already declared over by the time he committed the crime.
The high court last Friday ruled that his lie about the crime rendered him unfit to be accepted as an attorney.
He was found to be “dishonest and completely at odds with ethical probity expected of an attorney”.
In 2015, the high court rejected his application for admission to the roll of attorneys after hearing about his criminal career in the 90s.
It included theft and shooting a petrol attendant with a semiautomatic rifle during an armed robbery. The victim survived.
In November 2016, it was reported that the Komani-born Mdyogolo studied law after his release from prison and did so well that part of his student loan was converted into a bursary.
He also finished his articles in record time.
But contradictions in his accounts of the robbery to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and then the court saw his dream unravel.
In his application for amnesty, Mdyogolo told the TRC the robbery was a trap set up by police. He claimed a policeman, Welile Ngobeni, and PAC operatives invited him to a party in Mdantsane on June 19 1994 and “fed me with all kinds of beer, brandy and wine”.
He was then taken to Fort Beaufort, where they robbed a petrol station.
He told the court at the time that the robbery was part of the “repossession of the wealth of the African people”, specifically to raise funds for the PAC. They stole about R2,000 and petrol.
In 1991, Mdyogolo had stolen a Cliff Richard cassette from Shoprite and was fined R200.
Mdyogolo skipped bail and was integrated into the SANDF, only to be rearrested and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 1997.
He was released on parole in 2004 and enrolled for a law degree at the University of Fort Hare. In 2010, Mdyogolo was fined R1,500 for drunk driving.
This was all disclosed to the CLS, which prior to 2015 had accepted Mdyogolo’s explanation that the robbery was politically motivated and had endorsed his application to be admitted.
However, he still had to be formally admitted by the high court.
In 2015, his application was denied.
Judge Clive Plasket said: “With the greatest of respect to the Cape Law Society, those who considered the application could not have applied their minds.”
Judge Plasket found that the robberies could not have been politically motivated as they were committed after the armed struggle was halted.
Mdyogolo appealed, saying the high court had erred.
In the appeal judgement last week, Plasket said: “More than 22 years have passed since the robbery was committed.
“We are required to consider whether he is now a fit and proper person to be admitted and enrolled as an attorney. In my view, the answer remains in the negative.
“This is because in 2015, in his very application to be admitted as an attorney, he lied about the reason he committed the robbery. That, apart from being dishonest and completely at odds with the ethical probity expected of an attorney, amounted to a cynical attempt to mislead both the law society and the court.
“This evidences a lack of honesty, integrity and trustworthiness, all of which are essential qualities for any member of the attorneys’ profession.
“The applicant’s application for admission and enrolment must therefore fail as he has not discharged the onus of establishing that he is a fit and proper person to practice as an attorney,” ruled Plasket.
On Tuesday, Mdyogolo called the ruling “nothing more than a personal battle between me and the judge”, and said he would take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“This latest judgment has a bearing of hatred which is aimed at demoralising all people who were freedom fighters,” he said.
He added that he would never give up on his dream of being a practicing attorney.
This judgment has a bearing of hatred which is aimed at demoralising all people who were freedom fighters