Advocates served political masters

DEAR SIR — The General Council of the Bar has successfully applied to have Lawrence Mrwebi and Nomgcobo Jiba struck off the roll of advocates. If they were members of a company’s board of directors they would be required to resign their positions. Being found wanting by your professional body is a serious matter that casts doubt on your ability to practice your given profession.

This should also extend to fiduciary responsibilities, such as sitting on a company board or trust.

A chartered accountant who has been deregistered is not allowed to continue rendering auditing services, and the same applies in the legal profession.

That said, one would assume that the professional backgrounds of Mrwebi and Jiba played a crucial role in considering them suitable for their jobs as head of the Specialised Crime Unit, and deputy head of the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions respectively. Comparing their duties to those of a company director would be to hugely undermine the seriousness and high proficiency that comes with their positions.

In this case it is not only the shareholders of a specific company that are adversely affected by the reckless conduct of a wayward director. Here we are talking about the entire country, its citizens, the continent and the entire world, thanks to the internet.

Even though by the time of writing this letter the Pretoria High Court had not given its reasons for the judgment, a person familiar with the past of the two advocates would not have to speculate much. In the midst of political appointments into professional positions of state organs, the incumbents seem to have forgotten their fiduciary responsibilities and instead became eager to serve their political masters.

In regulated professions, law practitioners ought to always remember that they are always officers of the court, and accordingly should not bring the judicial system into disrepute. Mrwebi and Jiba seem to have forgotten this dictum.