The Constitutional Court has dismissed an application by former senior counsel Seth Nthai in which he sought to be readmitted to the roll of advocates.

The name of the disgraced advocate was removed from the roll of advocates by the high court in Pretoria in 2013 after Nthai was found to have attempted to solicit a bribe from an Italian businessman four years earlier.

Nthai was also found to have discussed his legal strategy and other details of a case over mining rights with the Italian investor, who was suing his client, the South African government.

Nthai successfully applied for readmission as an advocate and that application was granted by the full bench of the high court in Polokwane in May 2019.

However, the Johannesburg Society of Advocates and the General Council of the Bar (GCB) successfully appealed against the Limpopo decision in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

Nthai sought to appeal against the SCA decision passed in December last year. 

In the order dated July 28, the ConCourt said it has considered the application for leave to appeal. “It has concluded that the application for leave to appeal should be dismissed as it does not engage this court's jurisdiction,” the court said in its order.

When the appeal by the Johannesburg Society of Advocates and the GCB was heard by the SCA in November last year, judges of that court questioned why the disgraced advocate was not prosecuted for the alleged corrupt actions.

Judge of appeal Azhar Cachalia said during the case that had Nthai been prosecuted — as he should have been — he would have received a sentence in excess of 15 years.

Cachalia said if Nthai had been prosecuted the question of his readmission would not have arisen. 

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