Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks
An emergency legal application to halt disciplinary proceedings against suspended National Lotteries Commission (NLC) company secretary Nompumelelo Nene has failed and he has been ordered to pay disciplinary costs.
In March, Nene's emergency application was struck down by Judge Stuart Wilson of the Johannesburg High Court, who ruled it had no merit.
At that time, the judge ordered the lawyer to submit an opinion on why costs were not paid on a personal and punitive scale.
But in his judgment, he placed the blame for the desperate application on Ms Nene herself, saying that as an admitted defense lawyer and senior corporate lawyer, she should have known better.
Read the judgment here
Nene was one of five key officials suspended in 2022 following the NLC's corruption crackdown.
On March 5, she commenced emergency proceedings in the High Court, stating before Mr Justice Wilson that her dismissal was a foregone conclusion and that if the trial continued she would be subject to undue financial hardship and a record of They argued that they would be exposed to layoffs and would have difficulty securing positions. Alternative employment.
She also alleged numerous violations of her constitutional rights.
She wanted a disciplinary hearing scheduled for late March to be canceled.
But NLC's lawyers argued that the application was “abusive”, non-urgent, without merit and poorly planned, and that its only real purpose was to delay the disciplinary hearing. .
They argued that her solicitor acted recklessly and should be punished with a personal punitive costs order.
In his judgment on the costs issue on April 22, Mr Justice Wilson reiterated that the emergency application “lacks substance” and therefore warrants a punitive costs order.
“Emergency courts are for truly urgent matters,” he said.
“It is a waste of the court’s time to register a matter on an urgent basis without trying to establish an urgent cause of action based on the key facts.”
“The Associate Chief Judge of our court has repeatedly warned that abuse of emergency lists is widespread and must be punished. Nene’s case is a perfect example of such abuse.”
He said the failure to disclose “even the most trivial causes of action” raised questions about whether Mr Nene had been properly advised.
Her lawyer, Amanda Vilakazi, was not even in court.
Nene appeared unwilling to allow her lawyers to argue the case at her convenience, but backed out.
Mr Justice Wilson said Vilakazi should have made Nene aware of the “reality” of the egregious nature of her case.
The least Vilakazi had to do was attend court.
He therefore ordered Vilakazi to file an affidavit explaining why he would not pay the costs personally.
Vilakazi said in his affidavit that he worked for Nene pro bono. She said Nene drafted the document herself. On the day of her hearing, she was present at the meeting, but she was available by phone and was sending her attorney nominees to the courtroom.
Mr Justice Wilson said that although her conduct fell “below the standard of conduct expected of a reasonable legal practitioner”, NLC's lawyers expressed some sympathy for the fact that she was acting pro bono. He said it appears he has withdrawn his request to pay the costs personally.
“However, in my view, the fact that the case was carried out pro bono does not in itself alleviate Mr. Vilikaj's conduct. Pro bono cases generally do not require fewer lawyers, but more resources. is required.
“Litigants who are represented pro bono are generally less familiar with legal procedures, less able to identify the facts relevant to their claims, and less able to develop the options open to them. Requires careful counseling to implement.
“That said, Ms. Nene is not your average pro bono litigator. She is a chartered attorney and a senior corporate lawyer. She drafted the paper herself. I should have known that.
“She was supposed to know better than anyone else.”
Mr Justice Wilson said that although NLC's lawyers no longer sought personal costs against solicitors, a punitive costs order was still necessary and Nene, as the competent litigant, should bear the consequences. said.
He ordered Nene to personally pay the costs of the emergency application on a punitive scale, including the NLC's costs of having two advocates argue the matter.
This article was first published by GroundUp.