Sidelined legal firms claw back at ADM

Attorneys claim damages from municpality for defaulting on contract

Two of the three East London law firms which interdicted the Amathole district municipality from appointing other firms to provide it with legal services have each claimed damages of R768,000 from the municipality for defaulting on a 2016 contract.

Law firms Wesley Pretorius & Associates and Smith Tabata said in the claim that they had lost about R1m each since June 2017, when the municipality reneged on the contract, which was concluded after a tender process.

The two firms, together with Clark Laing, obtained a final interdict earlier in 2020 in the high court in Makhanda against their sidelining and the simultaneous appointment of Somerset East attorneys Lionel Trichardt & Associates, Port Elizabeth-based advocate Shaheed Patel and attorneys Patel & Associates.

Judge Thami Beshe found that the appointment of the Trichardt and Patel entities was not fair, equitable, transparent, competitive or cost-effective, and ordered Amathole to comply with its contract to secure legal services on a rotational basis from the three East London firms.

That prospect has all but disappeared with the move by Pretorius and Smith Tabata to claim damages from ADM.

Clark Laing elected not to join the damages claim for now, director Justin Laing said yeterday.

Ironically, Lionel Trichardt was appointed by ADM to represent the council in defending the damages claim.

The East London firms were appointed to a rotational panel in October 2016 to provide legal services to the municipality, including conveyancing, debt recovery, labour law and general litigation and legal services.

The appointment, after a call for bids in June of that year, was meant to run for three years.

The dispute arose less than a year into the contract, after Thandekile Mnyimba replaced Chris Magwangqana as Amathole’s municipal manager, and the ousted Magwangqana challenged the appointment of Mnyimba.

On June 22 2017, Mnyimba instructed the municipality’s CFO to effect an urgent deviation from the contract to appoint Trichardt & Associates in the court case brought by Magwangqana.

This was because, he claimed, the panel attorneys had probably worked closely with Magwangqana.

Subsequently, without any reference to the Magwangqana matter, Mnyimba appointed Trichardt for three years for “a whole spectrum” of ad hoc legal services, including labour, local government and administrative law. The appointments of the Port Elizabeth firms followed similar lines.

ADM must still account for the work done by the Trichardt and Patel entities.

Pretorius and Smith Tabata will finalise the value of their claims once they are able to determine their lost profits.

The municipality could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Pretorius and Smith Tabata will finalise the value of their claims once they are able to determine their lost profits