- One attorney was struck off the roll after eight clients paid for legal services that were never provided.
- Another was suspended after practising for years without Fidelity Fund Certificates and repeatedly ignoring regulatory warnings.
- A third attorney avoided suspension but was ordered to settle outstanding fees and legal costs after failing to formally notify the regulator that he had stopped practising.
The legal profession is built on trust. Clients hand over money, sensitive documents, and life-changing disputes, believing that attorneys will act diligently, honestly, and in line with strict professional rules.
Three recent judgments from the High Court in the North West have exposed what happens when that trust collapses, whether due to neglect, defiance of regulations, or simply silence.
In one case, Zahed Minty, a long-serving attorney admitted in 1983, was permanently struck off after the South African Legal Practice Council uncovered a disturbing pattern of misconduct spanning several years.
In another case, Jonathan Olefile Marobe was suspended from practice after failing to comply with key statutory duties related to trust account oversight. In a third, Frederik Christoffel Hendrik Pretorius avoided suspension only after revealing that he had actually stopped practising years earlier, but never formally informed the regulator as legally required.
Eight clients left in limbo while money changed hands
Minty’s case was the most serious of the three. The Legal Practice Council presented evidence showing that eight clients paid Minty significant sums for legal work that was never started, never completed, or simply abandoned. Their complaints revealed a repeated pattern; money was accepted, mandates were ignored, communication was cut off, and clients were left to deal with the consequences alone.
One client paid R12,000 for help with three different matters and received no legal service at all. Another paid R118,000 in legal and expert fees, only for Minty to fail to appear in court, resulting in a writ of execution against the client’s business and exposing him to an additional claim of R700,000. Other clients paid for help with immigration, banking claims, property disputes, and recovery actions that never materialised.
Acting Deputy Judge President AH Petersen, with Acting Judge BF Mnyovu concurring, wrote in the judgment, “The respondent has exhibited a pervasive and sustained disregard for his professional obligations.”
“His misconduct spans an extended period and involves not just one isolated failure, but a wholesale abandonment of his obligations to multiple clients, to the court, to the LPC, and to the profession.”
The court also found that Minty practised without a valid Fidelity Fund Certificate for three years in a row, failed to submit required audit reports, failed to pay annual membership fees, and repeatedly ignored correspondence from the Legal Practice Council.
Judge Petersen remarked, “The public must be protected from further harm. Removal from the roll is the only appropriate sanction.”
Minty was struck off the roll, barred from operating trust accounts, removed from all fiduciary offices tied to his status as an attorney, and ordered to pay costs on an attorney-and-client scale.
Practising without certificates comes at a high cost
Marobe’s case did not involve allegations of stolen trust money, but the court found that his conduct still struck at the heart of professional accountability.
Marobe failed to submit audit reports for three consecutive years. As a result, he was not issued Fidelity Fund Certificates for 2023, 2024, and 2025. Despite this, he continued to practise and earn fees.
This is serious because Fidelity Fund Certificates are designed to protect the public whose money is held in attorney trust accounts.
Judge Petersen explained, “Failing to submit audit reports and to have a Fidelity Fund Certificate is not a trivial or technical breach. It goes to the core of the regulatory regime designed to protect clients’ trust money.”
Marobe had several chances to fix the problem. He ignored letters from the regulator, missed a disciplinary hearing, later pleaded guilty to charges before a disciplinary committee, and still did not correct his failings.
Judge Petersen observed, “A legal practitioner who shows such sustained and careless disregard for the fundamental regulatory duties of the profession cannot be considered fit and proper to continue practising.”
The court suspended Marobe from practice for 12 months, twice the period recommended by the disciplinary committee, and placed his trust accounts under curatorship to protect clients and creditors.
Leaving practice does not end legal obligations
Pretorius’s case offers a different warning, one aimed at attorneys who quietly stop practising without properly closing out their professional obligations.
The Legal Practice Council began suspension proceedings after Pretorius failed to submit audit reports for three years in a row, did not have valid Fidelity Fund Certificates, and racked up unpaid membership fees of R13,285.
But shortly before the hearing, Pretorius revealed he had actually stopped practising in 2021. The problem was that he never formally notified the Legal Practice Council, never regularised his status, and remained on the records as a practising attorney.
As a result, annual fees continued to pile up, audit obligations remained outstanding, and disciplinary action followed.
Judge Petersen said, “Failing to notify the LPC of cessation isn’t a minor administrative slip. It’s a breach of statutory duty with real consequences, both for the practitioner and the regulatory system.”
He added, “An attorney who stops practising does not simply shed their regulatory obligations. Those obligations remain until they’re properly discharged.”
Once proof of cessation was accepted, the Legal Practice Council withdrew the suspension application. Still, Pretorius was ordered to pay the outstanding membership fees and the council’s legal costs.
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