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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