Pretoria - Ailing Springbok rugby legend Joost van der Westhuizen is still not close to getting the money he desperately needs for his motor-neuron disease treatment.
Almost a year after his lawyer allegedly committed suicide and a legal battle which lasted for months, Van der Westhuizen has still not got his R385 665.
The former Bok captain twice got the nod from the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, which agreed that he was entitled to his money - especially given his ailing health.
A third court, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), added its voice on Friday that he should get his money when it turned down an application for leave to appeal by the Attorneys Fidelity Fund Board of Control. But the fund refused to relent.
In the latest turn of events, a letter was sent at the weekend to his lawyer, Ferdinant Hartzenberg, in which it stated that Fidelity would approach the SCA to reconsider the matter within a month.
Two judges of the SCA on Friday refused to entertain the application for leave to appeal saying there were no reasonable prospects of success.
The fund now, in the letter to Hartzenberg, said the Superior Courts Act provided that the SCA may in exceptional circumstances be asked to reconsider its decision.
It maintained that Van der Westhuizen invested the money with his erstwhile lawyer Robert Klinkenberg, which fell outside the ambit of the Attorneys Act. This further fight will mean that come Christmas, Van der Westhuizen will still not have his money.
The R385 665 is in the trust account of Hartzenberg, following an agreement earlier that the fund would pay it over, pending the finalisation of the appeal proceedings.
The money, however, has to remain in trust, which made it clear in its latest letter that should it succeed with its appeal, it should be given the money as well as the interest earned.
Hartzenberg on Sunday told the Pretoria News that three courts said Van der Westhuizen should get his money and he did not believe the fund would succeed in its latest bid to take the matter further.
Hartzenberg said given Van der Westhuizen’s exceptional circumstances, the money was not an investment but an arrangement he had with Klinkenberg to assist him in paying his bills, including treatment and medication.
If the money paid in from time to time into Klinkenberg’s trust account - before his death - was an investment, Van der Westhuizen would have had to pursue other avenues to recover it. This would have meant standing in line to claim it from Klinkenberg’s alleged insolvent estate.
It is claimed that when Klinkenberg allegedly committed suicide last December by shooting himself, there was a shortfall of between R100 million and R200m in his trust account.
Klinkenberg’s body was discovered with a bullet wound to his head in the Magaliesberg, close to his Porsche vehicle.
Van der Westhuizen claimed that his former lawyer, who handled his divorce from his celebrity wife Amore Vittone, either stole his money or misappropriated it before his death.
His legal team earlier argued that the money was extremely important to him. His medication was expensive and the bills were adding up. It was said that he would probably die sooner if he did not receive his money.
Judge Leister Adams agreed and found that he needed the money to stay alive to pay for his day-to-day treatment.
Lawyers for the fund said that while they had sympathy with Van der Westhuizen’s circumstances, the Attorney’s Act bound them in this case.
Their argument was that if they relented, it would open the floodgates for others who wanted to claim directly from them.
Judge Adams, however, refused them leave to appeal against his order, which caused them to (unsuccessfully) turn to the SCA.
Pretoria News