Case Law[2023] ZAGPPHC 1158South Africa
South African Legal Practice Council v Masingi (2023/077988) [2023] ZAGPPHC 1158 (13 September 2023)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)
13 September 2023
Judgment
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# South Africa: North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria
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## South African Legal Practice Council v Masingi (2023/077988) [2023] ZAGPPHC 1158 (13 September 2023)
South African Legal Practice Council v Masingi (2023/077988) [2023] ZAGPPHC 1158 (13 September 2023)
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sino date 13 September 2023
REPUBLIC
OF
SOUTH
AFRICA
IN
THE
HIGH
COURT
OF
SOUTH
AFRICA
GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA
Case
No: 2023-077988
REPORTABLE:
NO
OF
INTEREST TO OTHER
JUDGES: NO
REVISED
DATE:
13/9/2023
In
the matter between:
SOUTH
AFRICAN
LEGAL
PRACTICE
COUNCIL
Applicant
And
JACOB
ABEL
MASINGI
Respondent
JUDGEMENT
THIS
JUDGEMENT HAS BEEN HANDED DOWN REMOTELY AND SHALL BE CIRCULATED TO
THE PARTIES BY WAY OF E- MAIL / UPLOADING ON CASELINES.
ITS DATE OF
HAND DOWN SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE 13 SEPTEMBER 2023
PRETORIUS
J:
1.
This is an urgent application for the
respondent, Jacob Abel Masingi, to
be
struck from the roll of attorneys of this Court, alternatively, to
suspend the respondent from practice as an attorney, on such
terms
and conditions as the Court orders.
SERVICE
OF THE
APPLICATION:
2.
The
sheriff
effected
service
on
the
respondent
on
8
August
2023.
A
notice
of intention to oppose the application was served on 11 August 2023.
Nothing was heard from the respondent until 5 September
2023 when the
matter was on the roll for urgent applications. Counsel appeared for
the respondent.
3.
No answering affidavit was delivered,
although the respondent was granted more than the prescribed time
since service of the application.
4.
The Court stood the matter down until 7
September 2023, to
afford
the respondent
the
opportunity
to
file his opposing papers
at this late
stage.
5.
Although the Urgent Court Roll had
closed at 12h00 on 31 August 2023, the respondent only filed his
answering affidavit on 4 September
2023
and his heads of argument on 4 September 2023. This was in total
contravention of the rules, but due to the relief sought of,
either
suspension from the practice of an attorney, or striking off the roll
of the attorneys, the Court granted the respondent
the indulgence.
6.
Unfortunately, the respondent
once more did not adhere to
the Rules of the High Court but filed a
document with the heading
"RESPONDENT'SANSWERING
AFFIDAVIT AND FOUNDING AFFIDAVIT IN THE COUNTER-APPLICATION."
This is a total abuse of this Court's
Rules.
7.
The counter
application
was
not brought in terms of the Rules as an urgent application and I
cannot understand that an attorney and his
counsel can file such a document.
8.
The gist of the document is that the
respondent is launching a review application to review the decision
by the Legal Practice Council
of 17 April 2023 to approach the Court
to have the respondent suspended as an attorney or to strike him off
the roll of attorneys
without first having a disciplinary enquiry.
9.
The matter was heard on 7 September
2023. The Court enquired from the applicant
whether the counter application was on the urgent court roll. Counsel
for the respondent
submitted that the counter application was not
part of the urgent application. I therefor dealt with the urgent
application before
me. Counsel for the respondent's heads of argument
dealt with the review application and did not deal with the
application before
Court. His argument in Court was mostly dealing
with the review application, although he had conceded that the review
application
was not
before
this Court.
THE
PARTIES:
10.
The applicant is The South African
Legal Practice Council ("LPC") who exercises jurisdiction
over all legal practitioners
and,
inter
alia,
regulates the professional
conduct of legal practitioners.
11.
The respondent is Jacob Abel Masingi,
an adult male, who was admitted and enrolled as an attorney
of this Court
on
7 September
2010.
12.
He has been practising as an attorney
under the name and style of A J Masingi Attorneys since 4 March 2011
at 234 Van Erkom Building,
217 Pretorius Street, Pretoria and/or at
205 Masada Building, c/o Ramakoase Streets, Pretoria. Both these
offices are vacated,
and he is presently practising at 860 Mance
Avenue, Mayville, Pretoria.
13.
The name of the respondent is still on
the roll of legal practitioners of this Court and this Court has
jurisdiction to hear the
application.
THE
LAW:
URGENCY:
14.
Section 43 of the LPC Act provides:
"Despite
the provisions of this
Chapter, if upon considering a complaint, a disciplinary body is
satisfied that a legal practitioner has
misappropriated trust monies
or is guilty of other serious misconduct, it must inform the Council
thereof with the view to the
Council instituting urgent legal
proceedings in the High Court to suspend the legal practitioner from
practice and to obtain urgent
interim relief'
15.
In the matter of The Law Society of
the Northern Provinces v Morobadi
(1151/2017)
[2018] ZASCA 185(11 +December 2018)
at para 25 the
Supreme Court of Appeal held:
''In
general, it
is
correct that the Council may
proceed
with
the
application
for
the
striking
off
of
the
applicant for his or her suspension
from practice without pursuing
a
formal charge before a disciplinary
committee
if in its opinion,
having
regard
to the nature of the charges, a
practitioner
is
no longer considered to
be
a fit
and
proper
person."
16.
The
main
complaint
from
the respondent
is
that the matter
is not urgent as the decision had been
taken on 17 April 2023 by the LPC to
institute the present application.
According to the respondent no case for
urgency was presented to the Court. The
applicant's counsel referred the Court to the continuing complaints
against the respondent.
The last complaint was received by the
applicant on 30 June 2023. I cannot find that there has been an
unreasonable
delay
in launching the application.
17.
If I apply the provisions of section 43
of the LPC Act and the dictum in Morobadi’s case
I
find
that
the
matter
is
urgent
notwithstanding the delays. Although I am
not dealing with the review application, it
is clear from the
provisions
of
section
43
and the
dictum
in
the
Morobadi
case
that the LPC need not have conducted a disciplinary enquiry before
approaching
the
Court for the relief it
is
requesting.
18.
It is trite that in an application for
removal or suspension of a legal practitioner from practice a
three-stage enquiry is involved
to decide whether the applicant had
shown on a balance of probabilities that the legal practitioner
should be suspended or struck
off the roll of legal practitioners as
set out in Summerley v Law Society, Northern Provinces 2006(5) SA 613
(SCA).
19.
The first stage is to decide whether
the offending conduct has been established on a balance of
probabilities. The second is to
determine whether the conduct of the
respondent is of such a nature that he is no longer a fit
and proper person to practise as an
attorney if his conduct is compared to
that
expected from an attorney. The third stage is to determine whether
the respondent should be removed from the roll of attorneys
or
whether an order for suspension for a period will suffice if all the
circumstances are considered.
BACKGROUND:
20.
The LPC brought this application on an
urgent basis,
inter alia,
upon
a receipt of a complaint by a certain Ms Bopape. As a result of the
complaint an investigation
was
conducted
into
the affairs of the respondent
in
terms of section 37(2) (a) of the LPC Act.
21.
The investigation was done by Mr
Philasande Nyali, a chartered accountant, who is employed as an
auditor in the LPC's Risk and Compliance
Unit.
22.
Mr Nyali submitted a report containing
his findings after inspection of the respondent's accounts and other
documents.
23.
He sets out that he had great trouble
to get the respondent to assist him and for the respondent to provide
all the necessary documents
as requested.
24.
On
3
March
2022
he
had
a
meeting
with
the
respondent
and
provided
the respondent
with a list of all the information he sought from the respondent. On
24 March 2022 the respondent delivered certain
documents, but some
documents were outstanding.
25.
On 29 March 2022 Mr Nyali reminded the
respondent that certain documents were outstanding. On 11 May 2022
the respondent requested
an additional two weeks to supply the
documents.
26.
On 9 June 2022 Mr
Nyali once more sent the respondent a
reminder and set the date of 17 June 2022 for the respondent
to supply the documents. Once more the
respondent had an excuse and informed Mr Nyali that he was ill
and would comply in the first week
of July 2022.
27.
On 12 July 2022 Mr Nyali once more
requested the documents, to no avail.
28.
On 12 August 2022 the respondent
informed Mr Nyali that he was locked out
of
his
office
due
to
non-payment
of
his
rent.
He
informed
Mr
Nyali
that he would provide the requested documents on 31 (sic) September
2022.
29.
He eventually
delivered
the
documents
to
Mr
Nyali
on 3 November2022- 8 months after he had been requested to do so. He
had been stalling and not
co-operating
with Mr
Nyali
for
8
months.
30.
The respondent was very reluctant to
co-operate with Mr Nyali and only through the perseverance of Mr
Nyali did the respondent eventually
comply.
31.
At inspection of the accounts, bank
accounts and books Mr
Nyali
found that on 4 June 2020 Ms Bopape, who had laid the complaint
against the respondent at the LPC, had deposited R 350 000.00
into
the trust account of
the
respondent.
This
was
paid
as
a
deposit
for
the
purchase
of
a
property. At that time, before the R 350 000.00 was deposited into
the trust account of the respondent, the balance in the trust
account
was R54.88.
32.
On 30 July 2020 the balance in the
trust account was Rl00 054.88. Between 4 June 2020, when the amount
was deposited
in
the
respondent's
trust
account,
and 30 July
2020
payments
were
made
to
third parties in the amount
of
R 158 445.12.
33.
An amount of R 91
500.00 was paid from the trust account to
the respondent's business account. This is patently not allowed as
the only work the respondent
had done for Ms Bopape was to draft an
offer to purchase. He had transferred money to his business account
from his trust account
which was not due to him.
34.
The respondent offered to repay Ms Bopape
in two instalments, which never took place.
35.
On 28 December 2020 there was only R
5000.00 of Ms Bopape's initial deposit
of
R
350 000.00,
left in the trust account.
36.
The respondent contended he could not
repay her as he had insufficient funds.
37.
This is clearly not true, as on 21 May
2021 the Road Accident Fund had paid him more than R 1,9 million. He
did not use that money
to repay Ms Bopape, but she had to wait
another 6 months to be repaid.
38.
He only repaid Ms Bopape on 11 November
2022, more than 2 years after he had
received her money and used it
for
his own purposes.
39.
The only probable conclusion this Court
can come to is that as 10 November
2022
there was a deficit of R 340 000.00 in the respondent's trust
account. The applicant had proved on a balance of probabilities
from
the respondent's own account that he had misappropriated at least R
340 000.00.
40.
In Vassen v Law Society of Cape of Good
Hope
[1998] ZASCA 47
;
1998 (4) SA 532
SCA at p 537F-G the Court characterized the
profession of an attorney as: “
ln
this regard it
must
be borne in mind that the profession
of an attorney,
as of any officer of the Court is an
honourable profession which demands complete honesty, reliability,
and integrity from its members;
and it is the duty of the respondent
Society to ensure, as far
as
it is able, that its members measure up to the high standards
demanded of them. A client who entrusts
his affairs to an attorney
must be able to rest assured
that that attorney is an honourable
man who can be trusted to manage his affairs meticulously and
honestly. When money is entrusted
to an attorney or when money comes
to
an
attorney to be held in trust, the general public is entitled to
expect that that money will not be used
for
any other purpose than that for
which
it
is being
held, and that
it
will be available
to
be paid to the persons on whose
behalf it
is
held whenever
it
is required."
The respondent's version
is that the client, Ms Bopape had verbally agreed that he could pay
the seller R10 000.00, and R140 000.00
to the agent for commission,
as well R45 000.00 to the agent. This does not ring true as the agent
then received almost half of
the purchase price as commission. It can
be expected from an attorney, transferring large amounts of money, to
have written instructions
from his client.
41.
According to the respondent he had not
been practising without a Fidelity Fund Certificate- he declared that
he was just not able
to print it. This despite not obtaining an
unqualified audit report for 2021. Although the audit report for
28 February
2022
was unqualified, it
cannot
be accepted as there
was
still a deficit
of
R 340 000.00 in the trust account
at
the time.
42.
It must be mentioned that this was not
the same auditor that had issued the
qualified
audit
report
in
2021.
Mr
Nyali
is
of
the
opinion that
the
auditor that had submitted the unqualified
audit
report
on 28 February 2022 should be reported as he could not have issued an
unqualified audit report as there
was
still a deficit
in
the trust
account
of R
340
000.00.
43.
It is quite clear from the evidence of
Mr Nyati that money has been misappropriated in the amount of R 340
000.00. The respondent
had not managed
Ms
Bopape's
affairs
"meticulously
and honestly'”
44.
The respondent responded with a bare
denial and indicated that the money was repaid and Ms Bopape had
withdrawn her complaint. The
fact that the respondent had repaid the
money, but only in November 2022 confirms the evidence by Mr
Nyati that there had been a trust deficit
in 2021 and again in 2022, until 10 November 2022. If the money had
been paid to the agents
at the behest of Ms Bopape, as claimed by the
respondent, it is strange that the respondent repaid her. His
defence, surely, would
have been that he does not owe the money as
she had agreed that he can pay the agents such large sums of money.
45.
Furthermore there is no explanation for
the large amount of R 91
500.00
that he had transferred to his business account without having any
reason to do so. There is no explanation as to
why his trust account only had R 5000.00 on
28 December
2020.
46.
The
applicant
placed
additional
facts
before
Court.
46.1
On 5 December 2022 a complaint was
received from Mr C Tshishonga, who claimed that he had deposited
R3000.00 for the respondent
to assist him with a claim at the Road
Accident Fund. The respondent
did
not
reply to
the applicant's
query in this regard.
46.2
Lechopho Investment Holdings complained
to the applicant on 28 February 2023 that the respondent had to
refund the amount of R250 000.00 paid to
him for a conveyancing transaction, as the property was sold to
another person. The complaint was once more
referred to the respondent. He was requested to reply on or before 31
March 2023, but
no response was received.
46.3
On 11 May 2023 the applicant received a
further complaint in connection with a conveyancing transaction where
Mr MS Rachidi complained
that he had deposited R 250 000.00 into the
business account of the respondent and had no feedback regarding the
transaction for
10 weeks.
46.4
A further complaint was received on 12
May 2023 from Mr P E Setati. The complainant alleges that he had pad
R 170 000.00 on 1 March
2023 for the sale of a property. Due to the
respondent not giving any feedback, he contacted the seller of the
property who denied
selling the house.
46.5
On 25 May 2023 Ms M A Mphelane
complained that she had paid an amount of R 450 000.00 to the
respondent for the transfer of a property
on 15 February 2023. The
respondent has not communicated with her since then.
46.6
On 26 June 2023 Mr
Makhaza complained that in February 2023 he
had paid the amount of R 170 000.00 into the respondent's account for
a conveyancing
transaction.
Nothing
has been done since then.
46.7
On 30 June 2023 Mr Z Mathonsi laid a
complaint against the respondent that he had deposited R 350 000.00
in the respondent's account
with the instruction to pay the
conveyancer, Mr
Mokwatlo,
which was not done.
47.
In addition to these complaints the
respondent is in arrears with his membership fees and owes the
applicant R 26 842.00.
48.
The applicant does not rely on these
complaints to prove a case against the respondent on a balance of
probabilities but submits
that the misappropriation of Ms Bopape's
funds is sufficient reason to have the respondent removed from the
roll of attorneys.
I do agree with this submission as there has been
misappropriation of funds, a reluctance to assist the LPC, a
failure to
pay
his membership
fees
and practising without a
Fidelity
Fund
Certificate.
The
importance
of
the
Fidelity
Fund
Certificate is that if an attorney
practises without a Fidelity Fund Certificate, he places the public,
who makes use of
his
services, at risk.
49.
The respondent is thus guilty of
contravening the following provisions of the LPA, the code of Conduct
and the LPC Rules:
49.1
Sections 84(1) and 84(2) of the LPA, in
that he is practising without being in possession of a Fidelity Fund
Certificate, and while
practising as such, receives and accepts fees,
rewards and disbursement
from
clients;
49.2
Rule 54.14.8 of the LPC Rules in that
he failed to ensure that the amount of money in the trust banking
account at any date, is
not less than the total amount of credit
balances of trust creditors;
49.3
Rule 54.14.10 of the LPC Rules in that
he failed to report immediately in writing, to the applicant that the
total amount of money
in his trust bank account, was less than the
total amount of credit balances;
49.4
Rule 54.14 14.2 of the LPC Rules in
that he transferred funds from the trust account to the business
account which were not due
to the firm;
49.5
Section 3.1 of the Code of Conduct in
that he failed to act with the highest standard of honesty and
integrity;
49.6
Section 3.3 of the Code of Conduct in
that he failed to treat the interests of clients as paramount;
50.
I
find
that
the
respondent
is
guilty
of
all
these
transgressions
which
are
all
serious. More so where his trust account was used to the detriment of
his clients. His conduct is unprofessional, dishonourable,
and
unworthy conduct of an attorney. He is not a fit
and proper person to practise as an
attorney if his conduct is compared to what is expected from an
attorney. The Court has a discretion
to decide whether to suspend or
to strike the respondent's
name
from the roll of attorneys.
51.
Due to
the
seriousness
of
the transgressions by the respondent the Court is
of
the
opinion that the respondent's
name
should
be
struck
off
the
roll of attorneys to safeguard the
unsuspecting public.
52.
In the result the following order is
made:
The attached draft order
marked "X" is made an order of Court.
C
PRETORIUS
JUDGE
OF THE HIGH COURT
GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA
Date
of Hearing:
7
September 2023
Date
of
Judgement:
13
September 2023
Appearances:
Applicant's
counsel:
LR
Modiba
Respondent's
counsel:
Attorney
CP Fourie
X
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
(GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA)
PRETORIA
7 SEPTEMBER 2023
BEFORE
THE HONOURABL MADAM JUSTICE PRETORIUS
Case
No: 2023 - 077988
In
the matter between:
SOUTH
AFRICAN
LEGAL PRACTICE COUNCIL
Applicant
And
JACOB
ABEL
MASINGI
Respondent
ORDER
After
having considered the papers and having heard the legal
representative for the applicant:
IT
IS
ORDERED
1.
That in terms of rule 6(12)(a) of the
uniform rules of court, this Honourable Court dispenses
with the forms
and
service
provided
for
in the uniform rules of court and disposes
of this matter at such time and place and
in such manner and in accordance with such procedures as it deems
fit.
2.
That the name JACOB ABEL MASINGI, the
respondent, be struck from the roll of attorneys of this Honourable
Court.
3.
That the respondent hands and delivers his
certificate of enrolment as an attorney to the Registrar of this
Honourable Court.
4.
That in the event of the respondent failing
to comply with the terms of this order detailed in the previous
paragraph, within two
(2) weeks from the date of this order, the
sheriff of the district in which the certificate is, be authorised
and directed to take
possession of the certificate and to hand it to
the Registrar of this Honourable Court.
5.
That the respondent be prohibited from
handling or operating on his trust account(s).
6.
That
Esther
Pillay-Naidoo, the acting director,
Gauteng provincial
office
of the applicant, or any person nominated
by her, in her capacity as such, be appointed as curator
bonis
("curator") to administer and
control the trust account(s) of the respondent, including accounts
relating to insolvent
and deceased estates, and any deceased estate,
and any estate under curatorship connected with the respondent's
practice as an
attorney and including, also the separate banking
accounts opened and kept by the respondent at a bank in the Republic
of South
Africa in terms of section 86(1) of the Legal Practice Act
("LPA''), and/or any separate savings or interest-bearing
accounts
as contemplated by section 86(3) and/or section 86(4),
in
which
monies
from
such
trust
banking
accounts
have
been
invested
by
virtue
of
the provisions
of
the
said
sub-section, on in
which monies
in
any
manner
have been deposited
or
credited
(the·-said
accounts being
hereafter
referred
to
-as
the
"trust
accounts"),
with
the
following powers
and
duties:
6.1
immediately to take possession
of
the respondent's accounting records,
records, files and documents as referred to in paragraph 7 below, and
subject to the approval
of the Board of Control of the Legal
Practitioners Fidelity Fund ("Fund"), to sign all forms and
generally to operate
upon the trust account(s), but only to such
extent and for such purpose as may be necessary to bring to
completion current transactions
in which the respondent were acting
at the date of this order;
6.2
subject to the approval and control of the
Fund, and where monies had been paid incorrectly and unlawfully from
the trust account(s),
to recover and receive and, if necessary, in
the interests of persons having lawful claims upon the trust
account(s) and/or against
the respondent in respect of monies held,
received and/or invested by the respondent, in terms of section 86(1)
and/or section
86(3) and/or section 86(4) of the LPA (hereinafter
referred to as "trust monies" or "trust money"),
to take
any legal proceedings which may be necessary for the recovery
of money which may be
due
to
such
persons
in
respect
of
incomplete
transactions,
if
any,
in which
the
respondent
was
and
may still have been concerned, and to receive
such
monies
and
to
pay
the
same
to
the
credit
of
the
trust account(s);
6.3
to ascertain from the respondent's
accounting records the names of all persons on whose account the
respondent appear to hold or
to have received trust monies
(hereinafter referred to as "trust creditors"), and to call
upon the respondent to furnish
her, within 30 (thirty) days of the
date of service of this order, or such further period as she may
agree to in writing, with
the names, addresses and amounts due to all
trust creditors;
6.4
to call upon such trust creditors to
furnish such proof, information and/or affidavits as she may require
to enable her, acting
in consultation with, and subject to the
requirements
of
the Fund, to determine
whether
any such trust creditor has a claim in
respect of monies in the trust account(s) of the respondent and, if
so, the amount of such
claim;
6.5
to admit or reject, in whole or in part,
subject to the approval of the Fund, the claims of any such trust
creditor or creditors,
without prejudice to such trust creditor's or
creditors' right of access to the courts;
6.6
having determined the amounts which she
considers are lawfully due to trust creditors, to pay such claims in
full, but subject to
the approval of the Fund;
6.7
in the event of there being any surplus in
the trust account(s) of the respondent, after payment of the admitted
claims of all trust
creditors in full, to utilise such surplus to
settle or reduce (as the case may be), firstly, any claim of the Fund
in terms of
section 86(5) of the LPA in respect of any interest
therein referred to and, secondly, without prejudice to the rights of
the creditors
of the respondent, the costs, fees and expenses
referred to in paragraph
13
below,
or
such
portion
thereof
as
has
not
already
been
separately
paid
by
the
respondent
to
the
applicant
and,
if
there
is
any balance left after payment in full of
all such claims, costs, fees and expenses, to pay such balance,
subject to the approval
of the Fund, to the respondent, if he is
solvent, or, if the respondent is insolvent, to the trustee(s) of the
respondent’s
insolvent estate;
6.8
in the event of there being
insufficient
trust monies-·in the-trust banking account(s) of the
respondent, in accordance with the available documentation and
information,
to pay in full the claims of trust creditors who have
lodged claims for repayment and whose claims have been approved, to
distribute
the credit balance(s) which may be available in the trust
banking account(s) amongst the trust creditors, alternatively to pay
the balance to the Fund;
6.9
subject to the approval of the Fund, to
appoint nominees or representatives and/or consult with and/or engage
the services of attorneys,
counsel, accountants and/or any other
persons, where considered necessary, to assist her in carrying out
her duties as curator;
and
6.10
to render from time to time, as curator,
returns to the Fund showing how the trust account(s) of the
respondent has been dealt with,
until such time as the Fund notifies
her that she may regard her duties as curator as terminated.
7.
That the respondent immediately delivers
his accounting records, records, files and documents containing
particulars and information
relating to:
7.1
any monies received, held or paid by the
respondent for or on account of any person while practising as an
attorney;
7.2
any monies invested by
the
respondent,
in terms of section 86(3)
and/or section 86(4) of the LPA;
7.3
any interest on monies so invested which
was paid over or credited to the respondent;
7.4
any estate of a deceased person, or an
insolvent estate, or an estate under curatorship administered by the
respondent, whether
as executor, or trustee, or curator, or on behalf
of the executor, trustee or curator;
7.5
any insolvent estate administered by the
respondent as trustee, or on behalf of the trustee, in terms of the
Insolvency Act, 24 of 1936
;
7.6
any trust administered by the respondent as
trustee, or on behalf of the trustee, in terms of the Trust
Properties Control Act,
57 of 1988;
7.7
any
company
liquidated
in
terms
of
the
Companies
Act,
71
of
2008,
administered by the respondent and/or on behalf of the liquidator;
7.8
any close corporation liquidated in terms
of the
Close Corporations Act, 69 of 1984
, administered by the
respondent and/or on behalf of the liquidator; and
7.9
the
respondent's
practice as an attorney of this Honourable
Court,
to the curator
appointed in terms of paragraph 6 above, provided that, as far as
such accounting records, records, files and documents
are concerned,
the respondent shall be entitled to have reasonable access to them,
but always subject to the supervision of such
curator or her nominee.
8.
That should the respondent fail to comply
with the provisions of the preceding paragraph of this order, on
service thereof upon
him, or after a return by the person entrusted
with the service thereof, that he has been unable to effect service
thereof on the
respondent (as the case may be), the sheriff for the
district in which such accounting records, records, files and
documents are,
be empowered and directed to search for and to take
possession thereof wherever they may be and to deliver them to such
curator.
9.
That the respondent be and is hereby
removed from office as -
9.1
executor of any estate of which the
respondent has been appointed in terms of
section 54(1)(a)(v)
of the
Administration of Estates Act, 66 of 1965
, or the estate of any other
person referred to in
section 72(1)
thereof;
9.2
curator, or guardian of any minor, or other
person's property in terms of
section 72(1)
, read with
section
54(1)(a)(v)
, and
section 85
of the
Administration of Estates Act, 66
of 1965
;
9.3
trustee of any insolvent estate in terms of
section 59
of the
Insolvency Act, 24 of 1936
;
9.4
liquidator of any company in terms of
section 379(2)
read with 379(e) of the
Companies Act, 71 of 2008
9.5
trustee of any trust in terms of section
20(1) of the Trust Property Control Act, 57 of 1988;
9.6
liquidator of any close corporation
appointed in terms of section 74 of the
Close Corporation Act, 69 of 1984; and
9.7
administrator
appointed
in
terms
of
Section 74 of the Magistrates'
Court Act, 32 of 1944.
10.
That
the
curator
shall
be
entitled
to:
10.1
hand over to the persons entitled thereto
all such records, files and documents, provided that a satisfactory
written undertaking
has been received from such persons to pay any
amount, either determined on taxation or by agreement, in respect of
fees and disbursements
due to the respondent;
10.2
require from the persons referred to in
paragraph 10.1 above, to provide any such documentation or
information which she may consider
relevant in respect of a claim or
possible or anticipated claim, against her and/or the respondent,
and/or the Fund in respect
of money and/or other property entrusted
to the respondent, provided that any person entitled thereto shall be
granted reasonable
access thereto and shall be permitted to make
copies thereof;
10.3
publish this order or an abriged version
thereof in any newspaper he considers appropriate; and
10.4
wind-up the respondent’s practice.
11.
that, if there are any trust funds
available, the respondent shall within 6 (six) months after having
been requested to do so by
the curator, or within such longer period
as the curator may agree to in writing, satisfy the curator, by means
of the submission
of taxed bills of costs or otherwise, of the amount
of the fees and disbursements due to the respondent, and should he
fail to
do so, he shall not be entitled to recover such fees and
disbursements from the curator,
without
prejudice
however,
to such rights (if any), as he may have
against
the
trust
creditor(s)
concerned
for
payment
or
recovery thereof.
12.
That a certificate issued by the Fund shall
constitute
prima facie
proof
of the curator's costs and that tine Registrar be authorised to issue
a writ of execution on the strength of such certificate
in order to
collect the curator's costs.
13.
That the respondent be and is hereby
directed.
13.1
to pay, in terms of section
87(2)
of
the LPA, the reasonable
costs
of the inspection of the accounting records
of the respondent;
13.2
to pay the reasonable fees and expenses of
the curator;
13.3
to
pay
the
reasonable
fees
and
expenses
of
any
person(s)
consulted and/or engaged by the curator as
aforesaid;
13.4
to
pay
the
expenses
relating
to
the
publication
of
this
order
or
an abbreviated version thereof; and
13.5
to pay the costs of the application on the
scale as between attorney.
BY
ORDER
Attorney
for Applicant:
CP
FOURIE
FOURIEFISMER
INCORPORATED
cpfourie@fsf.co.za
082
8811737
DISCLAIMER:
"This Order is made an Order of Court by the Judge whose name is
reflected hereon, duly stamped by the Registrar
of the Court and is
submitted electronically to the parties or their legal
representatives by e-mail. This Order is further uploaded
to the
electronic file of this matter in Case Lines by the Judge of his/her
Secretary/Registrar. The date of this Order is deemed
to be
13
September 2023
.”
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