Govt legal boss is ex-con

‘NOT REFORMED’: UNFIT TO BE ADVOCATE, RULES HIGH COURT

Ngwenya still has top job at Free State dept of education.

One of the best-performing provinces on the education front has a legal boss with a criminal past. Bafana Cecil Ngwenya, who was labelled “unfit” by the high court and denied admission as an advocate, remains head of legal services at the Free State department of education.

An insider said that despite his criminal record, Ngwenya got the post under questionable circumstances during the late Tate Makgoe’s tenure as MEC.

Makalo Mohale took over as education MEC last year.

Ngwenya was described by the High Court in Johannesburg as “not fit and proper” after he took two bar councils to court for refusing to admit him as an advocate. The insider said Ngwenya did not meet the requirements for the post, which requires the applicant to be an advocate or an admitted attorney.

“I first met him in 2015, when he was acting as head of legal services. Under him, the department loses even the simplest cases, an indication that there are problems at the top.

“I wrote to the Presidency about his irregular appointment, but they referred me back to the national department, which didn’t seem concerned at all.

“He is an ex-convict. His application to become an advocate was dismissed by the High Court in Pretoria.

“He does not qualify to be a director of legal services,” said a Free State education activist who preferred to remain anonymous.

The Presidency forwarded the activist’s complaint to the national department of basic education to follow up.

But Nkosana Thakgedi, an official in the department’s governance and management unit, replied that the e-mail was “misdirected” and should be sent to labour relations.

“It has been a back and forth in e-mails between the three departments.

“No-one seems interested in looking into Ngwenya’s appointment,” he said.

For weeks, The Citizen sought comment from Howard Ndaba, the Free State education spokesperson and premier Mxolisi Dukwana’s spokesperson, Sello Dithebe.

Dithebe requested that the questions be e-mailed to both of them, but neither has replied.

Ngwenya was convicted in Bethlehem on two counts of theft, each involving an amount of R500, and one count of defeating the ends of justice in 2000.

This happened when he was an acting prosecutor at the Tseke Magistrate’s Court outside Harrismith. He was sentenced to two years for theft and one year for defeating the ends of justice. He served 10 months and was released under correctional supervision.

Court documents show that Ngwenya’s quest to be admitted as an advocate first fell through in 2005 before Judge Ivor Schwartzman in the High Court in Johannesburg.

Having claimed that he was wrongfully convicted and was therefore fit to be admitted as an advocate, Schwartzman dismissed Ngwenya’s appeal against the Johannesburg and Pretoria bar councils.

“The applicant cannot claim to have reformed because he has not come to terms with the character defect that led to his convictions.

“This means that his statement that he was wrongfully convicted is untrue, which means he is not a fit and proper person to be admitted as an advocate. The applicant’s application is dismissed.”

Both the Gauteng-based bar councils turned down his application to be an admitted advocate, citing his criminal convictions.

– getrudem@citizen.co.za