An application to strike a Western Cape firm of attorneys off the roll has pulled in one of the province’s judges. The case, still to be heard, comes at a time when the Western Cape high court already teeters on the edge of crisis after the explosive complaint and counter-complaint between the division’s judge president and his deputy.
Instead of reporting this to the Legal Practice Council as they were supposed to do, WhatsApp messages between the three partners attached to the court papers show the three desperately trying to find the funds to make up the shortfall. Hlophe, who also did not name the judge, had a different version: he said they did have a dispute, but that there was no assault. It was a private matter unrelated to judicial work and, after mediation, they have put it behind them and remained good friends.
In January, the Cape Town office of the Legal Practice Council obtained an interdict to stop Khan and Irfan Parker from acting as attorneys, pending an application to strike them off the roll. Under the Legal Practice Act and its forerunner, the Attorneys Act, it is unlawful to dip into one client’s trust account to pay another or to pay the firm’s creditors or operating expenses. There is also a duty on attorneys to report each other to the Legal Practice Council if there is misappropriation or maladministration of trust funds.
However, Myburgh says in her affidavit that, as at March 2017, the firm’s trust account already had a shortfall of R5.9-million. Then on September 6 last year, in response to further entreaties from Irfan, Mushtak Parker wrote: “Aslm [As-Salaam-u-Alaikum] herewith my meaningful response. I HAVE tried very hard to come to the party which I by implication allegedly contributed to.”
The Legal Practice Council also declined to comment on whether Mushtak Parker would have been the third respondent if he had still been an attorney. In her affidavit, Myburgh says that even if Irfan Parker did not know about the shortfall, this was “no defence”.
I am not sure we understand or appreciate the extent of collapse of the judiciary in the WC. We have horribly inappropriate and under-qualified persons serving as judges and acting judges. But its all in the name of 'transformation' and ensuring numbers are right.