Sue Blaine
A justice ombudsman could be appointed to aid members of the public in taking action against corrupt lawyers.
This comes in the wake of reports that the Heath Commission - already investigating road accident fund mismanagement complaints against about 180 attorney firms nationwide - is poised to launch investigations into 12 more firms this week. Three of these firms are based in KwaZulu-Natal, seven in the Western Cape and two in the Eastern Cape, Judge Willem Heath said yesterday.
Justice department officials concede there is a strong perception that South Africa's law societies are not effectively investigating complaints against lawyers and are not protecting the public interest.
A discussion document, which proposes the appointment of an ombudsman to deal with complaints, has been circulated. The document had its birth in former justice minister Dullah Omar's term, but current Justice Minister Penuell Maduna was keen to establish a plan which could address complaints about all legal practitioners, his spokesman said.
The co-chair of the Law Society of South Africa, Julian von Klemperer, said the perception that law societies protected their own was the fault of bad communication.
Just as the public thought law societies did not enthusiastically pursue complaints, legal practitioners were often of the opinion the law societies were "hell-bent" on disciplining them, he said.
Law societies agreed that there was place for an ombudsman, he said. There was, however, some dispute about the exact nature and scope of the role needed.
The Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Natal, Cape, Transvaal and Orange Free State law societies believed the primary disciplinary function should remain with the "provincial" societies, but the Black Lawyers' Association wanted the ombudsman to have sole responsibility for investigating complaints.
The number of complaints received by the four societies made it impractical to leave investigation of all complaints to an ombudsman, von Klemperer said.
The national transport department earlier this year reported that, of 143 cases investigated, on average 56 percent of what was due to road accident victims was kept by unscrupulous lawyers - and in six instances it appeared as if the lawyers had kept the entire payout.
Earlier this year, a Western Cape attorney was accused of operating a fraudulent scheme, skimming R1,24 million from his road accident fund clients' claims.
This investigation lead to the Cape Law Society's high court application on Friday to have Athlone-based attorney Hoosain Mohammed struck from the roll.
Mohammed specialised in motor vehicle accident claims. The two judges presiding have reserved judgment.
The Heath Commission was itself prevented from investigating a number of complaints when several law firms began a Pretoria high court application to bar the commission's investigating unit from delving into their road accident fund files. The commission's investigations into these firms are on hold pending the outcome of the hearing.
These firms established the South African Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Saapil) after former president Mandela gave the commission the power to investigate this type of fraud, Judge Heath said.
Saapil argues that a judge should not head an investigation team and is also opposing, on constitutional principles, the investigating unit's search and seizure powers.
"The thing is, I haven't been on the bench for four years," Judge Heath said.
Complaints against firms not belonging to Saapil were being investigated with the various law societies' full co-operation, he said.
"Our investigations are making good progress," Judge Heath said, adding that the investigation into one KwaZulu-Natal firm's alleged mismanagement was almost complete.
A total of seven KZN firms are being probed by the Heath Commission. Judge Heath said his investigative unit had enjoyed good relations with the firms it was investigating.
"Up to now we have had full co-operation. This has been a very friendly process," he said.