Hawks probe lawyer who claims millions on behalf of clients who get very little of the cash intended for them
SABELO SKITI – Special Investigations
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The net is closing on personal injury litigation lawyer Zuko Nonxuba , who has allegedly pocketed millions in Road Accident Fund claims paid out to victims he represented.
A six –week Sunday Times investigation into Nonxuba’s practices has uncovered how the Eastern Cape lawyer – who sells himself as a crusader for justice – allegedly enriches himself on the pain of broken rural people, many of them illiterate .
Nonxuba first came to prominence in January , when the Sunday Times
highlighted the plight of paraplegic Avela Mathimba , who was involved in a
legal tussle with Nonxuba to get access to R9.6-million awarded to him
more than two years ago in claims against the RAF and the Eastern Cape
health department.
The Sunday Times has established that the Hawks in the Eastern Cape , in
conjunction with the police’s Commercial Crimes Unit are investigating 31
complaints , worth a staggering R27-million , by former clients of Nonxuba.
The Eastern Cape department of health which has paid out more than R 37
million in awards for negligence claims to Nonxuba , is also probing the
high – living attorney.
The millionaire is also subject of several probes by the law societies of three
provinces , as well as a forensic investigation by the RAF.
Hawk’s spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said “ Some of the victims
only received a portion of the amounts due to them, while some of the
victims received no amount which was due to them.. The alleged prejudice
to the victims is approximately R27-million .”
Eastern Cape health department head Thobile Mbengashe said his
department would probe several issues uncovered by the Sunday Times ,
including allegations of :
- Touting – The illegal practice of asking nurses and community members to find potential clients for a fee ;
- Overcharging and sometimes double charging clients ; and
- Failing to set up trusts for victims as ordered by the Court .
Nonxuba’s company , Nonxuba Incorporated , was paid more than R 37-
million in claims by the health department between 2013 and 2015. In the last
quarter of this financial year Nonxuba submitted claims for R 160- million in
the High Court in Mbatha.
Mbengashe said the department would investigate whether funds paid to
Nonxuba’s firm actually reached claimants , after the Sunday Times traced
several cases where Nonxuba ‘s clients waited for up to two years for their
payouts , even though the funds had been paid over to him.
Although he has been probed for the past four years , Nonxuba continues
to practise with apparent impunity.
Once the amounts have been paid to an attorney, the RAF – which has
paid out an average of R 18- billion per year for the past five years- appears
to wash its hands of the matter. It makes little or no effort to ascertain
whether the claimants have in fact received their payouts.
The Sunday Times has over the past month tracked at least half a dozen of
Nonxuba’s Eastern Cape clients. They include unemployed mother of five
Nobathembu Katshele , 57 year old semi- illiterate Tozama Quta of Mount
Ayliff , and Nxeko Lutshete of Mdantsane in East London . Lutshete , who was
injured in an accident 10 years ago , was awarded R 2- million by the RAF in
2012, but received only R 308 000 from Nonxuba- and was told to expect a
further R 450 000. He has yet to receive this and has lodged a case of
overcharging.
Paying in a staggered fashion without explanation in cases where
the entire award was paid was odd , said a Cape Town lawyer.
Tzvi Brivik of Malcolm Lyons & Brivik Inc. said agreements between
attorneys and clients as well as proper accounting within a
reasonable time after the payout were important.
“An account to the client must set out very clearly what amount
has been received , what expenses were incurred by the law firm
and what the fee is , he said.
Nonxuba himself was reluctant to talk about his work or the investigations,
citing attorney client privilege – and protesting that he had acted
ethically.
Katshele , 43, is worried that the R12- million awarded to her disabled toddler
Zubenathi will go missing , despite assurances from Nonxuba.
The mother of five from rural Luhewini village near Ngcobo in the Eastern
Cape was promised by Nonxuba that Zubenathi would receive quality care.
But Katshele was surprised to learn that the R3-million Nonxuba told her she
had been awarded last February was R 9- million short of the actual award
of R 12-million paid over to the lawyer in September 2014.
Quta received only R 300 000 of her son’s R 1.6 million RAF award – and that
only after the Sunday Times requested a copy of the Court Order from the
registrar of the High Court in Mthatha , where Nonxuba’s wife worked until
recently.
Until mid- January, when the Sunday Times inquired about it , Quta thought
the matter was ongoing and had no idea that payment to Nonxuba has
been made in May 2014.
Nonxuba said he represented Quta in two matters against the RAF and the
health department . He did not explain why Quta had received only
R300 000, nor reveal any detail about the matter against the health
department.
RAF Spokeswoman Linda Rulashe said the fund had no “further control” over
payments once they were with attorneys.
“It does happen , in certain cases , that attorneys recover more from their
client than what they are entitled to , or that they delay payment to their
client, ” she said.
“In such instances claimants have recourse through applicable law society ,
in respect of the attorneys’ misconduct , and SAPS where fraud or theft is
alleged.”
The Sunday Times has established that the law societies of the Cape , Free
State and Northern Provinces are all investigating complaints , some of which
go back as far as 2011 , against Nonxuba . But there seems a little joy for
complainants such as Lutshete , 54 who has been desperately chasing more
than R 500 000 from Nonxuba since 2012.
He said he was not surprised that none of the law societies had reported
completing a single investigation against Nonxuba.
“Its simple. Nonxuba’s victims are all black and live in villages or townships
so these law societies don’t care. “
“Two years ago the Free State law society said they could not find Nonxuba
[ because he had moved from his Bloemfontein office] , so I hired a private
investigator . I informed them he had an office in Johannesburg . Do you think
they ever followed up on that information?”
Busani Mabunda , the co- chairman of the Law Society of South Africa , said :
“According to our information , no complaint brought to the relevant
provincial law society relating to Mr Nonxuba has been ignored or left
unattended to .”
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