Six former Economic Freedom Fighters Mogale City councillors who were expelled by the party last year‚ have been accused of failing to pay their legal representative.
Advocate Rodney Manzini of Mkhize Attorneys‚ which represented the councillors‚ said that the former councillors‚ led by then EFF chief whip Smanga Mkhumbeni‚ owed him about R30‚000 in outstanding legal fees.
This was after the councillors instructed Manzini to launch an urgent application at the South Gauteng High Court when the EFF’s central command team expelled them after they allegedly defied the organisation by voting with the ruling ANC in favour of the municipality’s budget on July 11‚ a claim that Mkhumbeni has denied.
Manzini said the six councillors only paid legal fees for the urgent application and not for the normal application which was meant to be heard in court on December 5. The councillors withdrew the application before the matter was due to be heard.
Mkhumbeni brought the application along with Eric Baloyi‚ Nomonde Nkatu‚ Nhlanhla Shilubane‚ Lebogang Modisane and Eddie Motsisi.
“We managed to file papers for a normal application for which we received a date for December 5 (2017) and apparently due to the fact that these guys failed to honour legal fees‚ they gave us an instruction to withdraw the main application and said they’ll pursue the internal remedy for an appeal process and ever since then the mandate was cancelled from our side‚” said Manzini.
Contacted for comment‚ EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee said the party received the note to appeal from the councillors but was unable to state when the matter would be dealt with.
“That advocate, that is the one I think will put in their appeal. Their appeal is still pending. They have done what they were supposed to do‚” Gardee said.
Gardee said the party would review their appeal but if the former councillors were reinstated as party members‚ they would have to start from scratch and work their way up to become councillors again.
“The way they were put in‚ will be the way they are put out. The way you go in is the way you go out‚” said Gardee.
Judge Denise Fisher ruled that the matter was not urgent in October after the six filed the urgent application to prevent the Independent Electoral Commission from removing their names from the municipal voters’ roll as instructed by the municipality.
Mkhumbeni’s phone was off the whole day and could therefore not be reached for comment.
Six former EFF councillors accused of not paying lawyer
Image: EFF
Six former Economic Freedom Fighters Mogale City councillors who were expelled by the party last year‚ have been accused of failing to pay their legal representative.
Advocate Rodney Manzini of Mkhize Attorneys‚ which represented the councillors‚ said that the former councillors‚ led by then EFF chief whip Smanga Mkhumbeni‚ owed him about R30‚000 in outstanding legal fees.
This was after the councillors instructed Manzini to launch an urgent application at the South Gauteng High Court when the EFF’s central command team expelled them after they allegedly defied the organisation by voting with the ruling ANC in favour of the municipality’s budget on July 11‚ a claim that Mkhumbeni has denied.
Manzini said the six councillors only paid legal fees for the urgent application and not for the normal application which was meant to be heard in court on December 5. The councillors withdrew the application before the matter was due to be heard.
Mkhumbeni brought the application along with Eric Baloyi‚ Nomonde Nkatu‚ Nhlanhla Shilubane‚ Lebogang Modisane and Eddie Motsisi.
“We managed to file papers for a normal application for which we received a date for December 5 (2017) and apparently due to the fact that these guys failed to honour legal fees‚ they gave us an instruction to withdraw the main application and said they’ll pursue the internal remedy for an appeal process and ever since then the mandate was cancelled from our side‚” said Manzini.
Contacted for comment‚ EFF secretary general Godrich Gardee said the party received the note to appeal from the councillors but was unable to state when the matter would be dealt with.
“That advocate, that is the one I think will put in their appeal. Their appeal is still pending. They have done what they were supposed to do‚” Gardee said.
Gardee said the party would review their appeal but if the former councillors were reinstated as party members‚ they would have to start from scratch and work their way up to become councillors again.
“The way they were put in‚ will be the way they are put out. The way you go in is the way you go out‚” said Gardee.
Judge Denise Fisher ruled that the matter was not urgent in October after the six filed the urgent application to prevent the Independent Electoral Commission from removing their names from the municipal voters’ roll as instructed by the municipality.
Mkhumbeni’s phone was off the whole day and could therefore not be reached for comment.
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