Law Society, veteran attorney in dispute
Silas Nkanunu lacks a current licence to practise
VETERAN attorney and former co-chair of the Law Society of South Africa Silas Nkanunu has fallen foul of the soc provincial arm, which is seeking to interdict him from practising until he gets his fidelity fund certificate. The Cape Law Society says in court papers that Nkanunu – who is a partner in Port Elizabeth firm Silas Nkanunu & Van Loggerenberg – has been practising throughout 2017 so far without a fidelity fund certificate (FFC).
Nkanunu was first admitted as an attorney in the 1970s, some four decades ago. He has acted as a judge of the high court and was co-chair of the Law Society of South Africa.
He is perhaps best known for his role in rugby and served as South African Rugby Football Union president in the early 2000s. He was also elected vice-chair of the International Rugby Board in 2003.
Attorneys are required by law to annually acquire an FFC to practise.
The fidelity fund insures the public against loss in cases where practitioners steal from their trust funds.
Attorneys are required to submit an unqualified audit report for the preceding financial year to the society when annually applying for their FFC.
According to an affidavit by Cape Law Society councillor Michael Bellairs, Nkanunu failed to submit his audit report for 2015-16, which had been due in August last year.
Nkanunu had been informed he would not receive his FFC for 2017 unless an audit report was filed with the society.
But Nkanunu – who is opposing the application – attacks the law society for “throwing him to the wolves” instead of offering him assistance in what he terms the “true spirit of comradeship”.
While he admits he does not possess a FFC, he claims he has been subject to “on-again-off-again illness” for the past three years and had scaled down his practice.
In his affidavit, Nkanunu quotes at length from the South African constitution on the foundational value of human dignity.
He also cites judgments in criminal cases in which courts emphasised mercy, prevention and correction as being more in line with human dignity than retributive punishment.
He says the law society was in effect a trade union tasked with ensuring each member’s welfare.
“Is the Cape Law Society, in its function as a regulator, content to apply the rules and law regardless of its inhumane consequences?
“Is transformation confined to changing faces in its regulatory structures rather than ensuring that its members are treated humanely?”
In his affidavit, Bellairs emphasises that the Law Society was obliged to act against Nkanunu to protect the public.
He said it was not in the interest of his clients that he be allowed to continue to practise in contravention of the law.
“The unexplained failure by (Nkanunu) to ensure that an audit report is submitted on his behalf gives rise to a reasonable concern that his accounting records are not in order and this in itself entails a risk to his clients.”
The Cape Law Society’s Grahamstown correspondent attorney, Marius Wolmarans, yesterday confirmed the matter had been postponed to August 24 for argument.