VAN RENSBURG IMPLICATED IN ‘SERIOUS MISCONDUCT’
MALALANE - Shock waves are rippling through the Onderberg with the revelation that many of disgraced attorney, notary and conveyancer Zietta van Rensburg’s clients have allegedly been conned by her over the past few years.
The Legal Practice Council
(LPC) has been investigating multiple complaints against her, and approached the Mpumalanga High Court with an urgent application requesting Van Rensburg’s suspension pending disciplinary proceedings.
While no one had found her guilty of any crime or misconduct, the judgment by Judge Brian Mashile and Acting Judge JL Bhengu explained why her suspension by court order was necessary at this point.
Firstly, the LPC has, based on its investigations to date, concluded that she had likely misappropriated trust monies or made herself guilty of serious misconduct. Secondly, the complaints against her were serious enough to grant a court’s intervention in order to protect the public. The judges did not accept her arguments that the matters to which the complaints related were sub judice, nor that there were disputes of fact involved that would warrant not suspending her.
This, Van Rensburg argues, placed her in a position in which she is “forced to fight with my hands tied behind my back.”
She intends to appeal the suspension based on the court’s nonacceptance of her arguments that she could not respond to all allegations based on cases being sub judice.
“This and attorney-client privilege places me in a difficult position - I cannot respond fully while bound by these confidentiality rules, which means that my right to be heard in terms of the audi alteram partem rule is not effected.” She also indicated that the LPC’s case was not supported by adequate supporting documentation from the victims themselves.
The Supreme Court of Appeal has not yet granted her leave to appeal, but the LPC has since confirmed that she may continue to practise in the interim.
In their suspension order dated February 22, judges Mashile and
Bhengu expressed their shock in response to what the LPC investigation had unearthed. While the LPC has nine complaints against Van Rensburg on record, only six formed part of the application, and Lowvelder’s investigation revealed that these were merely the tip of the iceberg.