Disgraced attorneys booted
Disciplinary inquiry for Komani lawyer after Dispatch report
Despite media reports of egregious actions by Eastern Cape attorneys, the Legal Practice Council (LPC) has struck off only four crooked practitioners in the province out of 118 attorneys nationally who have been booted from the profession since 2018.
But this week, following a Dispatch report, the ECLPC was prodded into initiating a disciplinary inquiry into disgraced Komani attorney Zoleka Ponoane, who colluded with a Herschel magistrate to actively rewrite a judgment that was favourable to her six clients.
LPC national spokesperson Sthembiso Mnisi said the low number of attorneys struck off in the EC was likely due to the provincial office only operating since 2019 following the promulgation of legislation which established the LPC as the ultimate regulatory authority for the attorneys’ profession.
He said because the EC previously fell under the Cape Law Society, some advanced disciplinary cases were finalised by that body.
The Covid-19 pandemic also played havoc with the LPC’s ability to hold regular meetings of its disciplinary committees.
But the number of attorneys struck from the roll in the EC seems to be out of sync with media reports and anecdotal accounts shared within the profession of crooked and unprofessional conduct by local practitioners.
In November 2020, judge Igna Stretch lamented the cases of two allegedly crooked attorneys — Frans Maritz, who failed to account to his client in her Road Accident Fund payout, and Nicolaas du Plessis, who allegedly ran a fraudulent cottage industry in claims against Buffalo City Metro.
On the same day Lindle Nompozolo, struck off already in 2010, was finally facing charges that he “stole from the dead, disabled and homeless”. More recently, the Special Investigating Unit highlighted up to eight cases of unnamed attorneys and advocates engaged in dodgy practices associated with medico-legal claims against the EC health department.
In the case of Ponoane, in 2012 she rewrote the judgment of the magistrate who heard the civil claim for damages against the police for wrongfully arresting her clients.
The high court described her behaviour as “unprecedented in the annals of the judiciary”.
A Dispatch query this week regarding her continued status as an attorney was sent to the ECLPC offices but no response was received.
After Mnisi heard of the query, he confirmed that Ponoane was still registered as a legal practitioner.
When the Dispatch asked why no action was taken against her and why she was allowed to continue to practise as an attorney, despite the findings of the high court, the ECLPC said a disciplinary process had been instituted.
Given that Ponoane lost her application for leave to appeal the high court’s setting aside of the Herschel magistrate’s court ruling, Mnisi told the newspaper the LPC “can confirm the matter is now with our EC provincial office who are handling a disciplinary process”.
He said the EC office was now meeting regularly to deal with disciplinary issues, adding “things are happening”.
The four EC attorneys struck off since 2018 after bringing disgrace to the profession are:
Mzwandile Bobotyana, described by the high court as systematically engaging in naked theft and fraud in a class of his own, was struck from the roll of attorneys on October 13 2020; Xolani Mvulana, struck from the roll on October 29 2019; Siyakudumisa Mlunguza, struck off on November 28, 2018; andBarend Terblanche, on November 27 2018.
In total, the LPC nationally struck from the roll 118 attorneys, meaning they may not practise at all, while a further 101 were suspended, pending further investigation or the correction of any violation which does not merit a striking off.
Out of 219 attorneys struck off or suspended from practising across the country, 105 were from Gauteng, 51 from KwaZulu-Natal, 12 from the Western Cape, eight from North West, six from Mpumalanga, five from Limpopo, three from the Free State and one from the Northern Cape.