Dear Editor
The DA will stop at nothing to ensure that South Africans have access to justice through a legal system that fosters public trust and protects the rights of South Africans.
Recent statistics released by the Legal Practice Fidelity Fund (LPFF) indicate an unwillingness and/or incapability of the Legal Practice Council (LPC), in combination with the NPA and LPFF to hold crooked lawyers accountable for their crimes.
It is unacceptable that only 59 cases of trust account theft and fraud have been successfully prosecuted in the last seven years, while 561 cases remain open. The DA finds it distressing that only 25 crooked lawyers have been sent to prison for their crimes in the same time span.
Considering these disturbing statistics, the DA will demand that legal oversight bodies and the NPA account for the shocking lack of successful prosecutions involving theft of trust money before the Portfolio Committee for Justice and Constitutional Development.
The NPA should work in conjunction with the LPC and LPFF to investigate claims of trust money theft. The LPC is specifically mandated in terms of the Legal Practice Act to ensure that public trust in the legal system and its practitioners is protected. They have failed dismally in their task, while the public, especially the poor, suffer at the hands of criminals posing as lawyers.
Law abiding legal practitioners pay fees to these oversight bodies, but it is clear that very little oversight is taking place. The DA will ensure that the LPC, LPFF and NPA answer for their inaction in the matter.
Regards
Adv. Glynnis Breytenbach MP
DA Spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development