Legal battle against Seth Nthai’s readmission not over yet

A battle between some of the country’s legal giants is set to continue in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

This, after the Johannesburg Society of Advocate (JSA) confirmed to News24 that it intends to approach the court in a bid to halt lawyer Seth Nthai’s readmission as an advocate.

Speaking to News24 on Thursday, advocate Kennedy Tsatsawane SC, said the JSA would be filing an application for leave to appeal the ruling of the Limpopo High Court which allowed Nthai to practise again.

It will also be filing a separate application to appeal an order that allows Nthai to practise, pending any appeals.

“Once the appeal against the Section 18 order is filed then that order [which allows him to practise pending any appeals] will be suspended,” Tsatsawane said.

He did not specify when the papers would be filed.

Meanwhile, the Legal Practice Council (LPC) will be deliberating on the matter soon.

In July, Nthai lodged an urgent application asking the court to allow him to practise again, pending the outcomes of any applications for leave to appeal or later appeals. The court granted his application.

At the same time, the court dismissed an application which the JSA and LPC lodged for leave to appeal the ruling that allowed him to be readmitted as an advocate and to practise at all.

Nthai was struck off the roll of advocates almost a decade ago after it was found that he had solicited a R5 million payment from an Italian businessman.

In a secret recording, he could be heard promising the businessman that he would convince the government to settle a matter in return for the R5 million.

In May, the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane ruled that he could be readmitted as an advocate. However, the JSA and LPC lodged an application for leave to appeal the ruling.

But Nthai also lodged the urgent application asking the court to order that the readmission order be executed in full pending the outcome of the application for leave to appeal, including future appeals.

In the leave to appeal application, the JSA argued that the public would suffer irreparable harm if Nthai was allowed to practise.

This was based on an anticipation that the public would be subjected to a legal practitioner who was ultimately found not to be fit and proper to practise.

But Judge President Ephraim Makgoba and Judge Peter Mabuse said the JSA’s and LPC’s leave to appeal applications lacked merit.

“In our view there are no reasonable prospects of success on appeal and secondly, there are no valid reasons why appeal should be heard,” they said.

The JSA also argued that, if Nthai returned to practise again, all the attorneys who brief him will be forced to terminate his services and find alternative lawyers if a later appeal succeeds.

But the judges said: “There is no merit in the aforesaid argument.”

“More often than not, it happens in the course of any litigation that counsel’s mandate is terminated for various reasons including illness, death, failure to pay counsel’s fees and lack of proper instructions to counsel, that counsel on brief does not proceed with the matter with the result that another or new counsel is briefed to proceed with the matter at hand.

“In our view, it is possible to replace Nthai in whatever matter he would be handling should the appeal court ultimately overrun this court’s order of readmission.”

– News24 wires

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.