The Legal Practice Council said the recent sentencing of disbarred lawyer, Malesela Teffo has a long history spanning over the years, stemming from his misconduct, particularly towards courts, and his receiving undue payments.
Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday morning, director of the Legal Practice Council in Gauteng, Ignatius Briel, said among other charges, Teffo refused to cooperate with the council, and his striking off from the roll of advocates was long-coming.
“The gist of it is, his general behaviour towards the court,” said Briel.
“After we previously applied to court to have him struck off the roll, he persisted in appearing in court as if he is still a practising advocate. He refused to cooperate with us by providing us with necessary files and documents that we needed to finalise the matter. Generally, his behaviour towards the court was just simply unacceptable.”
The Legal Practice Council - the watchdog over the legal profession - said Teffo was not a trust advocate permitted in law to take instructions and payments directly from members of the public.
“In terms of the Legal Practice Act, as it is at the moment, there is a distinction between advocates who are supposed to accept instructions only from attorneys and advocates who may accept instructions directly from the public. Advocate Teffo was not what we call a trust advocate who could accept instructions directly from the public, but he did so, and also accepted money for the work that was done.
“That was the big part of the complaints, also, beyond the behaviour in court,” said Briel.
Last week, IOL reported that Pretoria High Court Judge Brenda Neukircher SC ruled in favour of the Legal Practice Council which had brought the contempt of court matter before the court in September last year.
Last year, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that Teffo should be struck off the roll of legal practitioners.
At the time, Teffo was accused of misconduct and misappropriation of funds by a number of clients who complained that despite paying, he never rendered services.
The complaints against Teffo to the council came before he took on the high-stakes Senzo Meyiwa case as legal counsel for four of the murder-accused men.
Before making his dramatic exit from the Meyiwa case, Teffo’s conduct and theatrics during the trial sometimes left the judge visibly upset and the public wondering whether his behaviour was a norm in the legal profession.
At the peak of his controversies, Teffo used the words “f***ed up situation” while addressing the judge, in the trial beamed live on several television stations.
The impassioned counsel made the remarks while cross-examining police forensic expert Sergeant Thabo Johannes Mosia, who he accused of lying in a bid to cover-up what actually transpired on the fateful night on October 26, 2014, at the Kelly Khumalo home where Meyiwa was killed.
In an amended ruling to reflect the latest findings, Judge Neukircher on Friday indicated that Teffo had been in contempt of court after disobeying paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12.6 of the court order issued under case number 10991/21 on September 16, 2022 (the strike of order).
This is after reports indicated that Teffo had attempted to return to practice as an attorney, earlier this year.
In May, the LPC indicated that it wanted the Pretoria High Court to hand Teffo a suspended prison sentence for continuing to practise as a lawyer.
Following this, the matter was heard last month with the judgment handed on Friday.
On Friday, the judge sentenced Teffo to 12 months in prison, suspended on strict conditions.
On Tuesday, Briel said if Teffo takes up another case, presenting himself as a legal practitioner, the disbarred advocate will go to jail.
“That is simple, the current order was suspended, allowing him an opportunity to provide us with information that we need. But then, also to stop him from acting the way that he has been acting. In any of those instances where he does not comply fully with the court order, we will be back to court in a blink of an eye, and the court order will be enforced for his 12 months imprisonment,” said Briel.
IOL