Cape Town – The Land Claims Court has ordered a probe to ensure that former rural development and land reform minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane pays all her legal bills associated with the District Six restitution process from her own pocket.
Nkoana-Mashabane, the current Minister for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, was slapped with a personal costs order last year for her “gross negligence” in causing unacceptable delays in the District 6 restitution matter.
Earlier this month she attempted to seek leave to appeal, which the District Six Working Committee, represented by Norton Rose Fulbright successfully opposed.
It still remains unclear who or how Nkoana-Mashabane has been paying for the case and her recent affidavit stated the court was acting ultra vires by enquiring who would make the payments.
This was something Acting Judge of the Land Claims Court Tembeka Ngcukaitobi found “startling” and he issued a scathing judgment on Monday last week.
He ordered that the national head of State Attorney and the Legal Practice Council probe whether any funds belonging to the state through the Department of Women, Youth and persons with Disabilities had been used to pay Nkoana-Mashabane’s private attorney and, if so, whether in their discretion there was any basis to recover any monies already paid.
“The State Attorney has no power to pay for private attorneys in relation to a matter which affects a state functionary personally.
“If there are allegations of abuse of public funds at the State Attorney’s office to fund the personal attorneys (for) the minister for her own personal benefit, it is the duty of this court to make enquiries,” Judge Ngcukaitobi said.
He said there was no basis that the court was acting outside its authority when inquiring about payment of legal fees.
Judge Ngcukaitobi also emphasised that Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Thoko Didiza, who was cited as appealing Nkoana-Mashabane’s personal costs order, was not a party before the court.
“Minister Nkoana-Mashabane refuses to join the application for leave to appeal personally, despite my express invitation to her. There is accordingly no ‘intergovernmental dispute’ relevant to the matter.”
The judge struck the application for leave to appeal from the roll.
“Minister Nkoana-Mashabane is directed to pay the costs incurred in the application for leave to appeal, in her personal capacity,” he said.
The chairperson of the District Six working committee, Shahied Ajam, welcomed the judgment and said: ”The judgment handed down by the Land Claims Court is very significant and damning.
“Indeed, the court stepped in to protect the country’s taxpayers and the vulnerable people of District Six from a potential abuse of power by Nkoana-Mashabane, who seemingly tried to get the state to pay for not only her normal legal costs, but also the cost of a punitive personal cost order that was granted against last year.”
Nkoana-Mashabane’s office did not respond to questions yesterday.