An attorney has been disbarred after a decade of failing to meet compliance standards.
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The name of an attorney who failed to lodge audit reports for a decade, and his failure to hold Fidelity Fund Certificates for the same period, and had not paid membership fees to the South African Legal Practice Council (LPC), was disbarred.
Schalk Willem Botha did not contest and consented to his name being removed from the legal practitioner’s roll.
Botha argued that he applied for his removal from the former Law Society of the Northern Provinces in December 2015, has not practiced as an attorney since, was subsequently sequestrated, and has made sustained efforts to settle this application since at least August 2025.
The LPC disputes whether a valid resignation was ever effected.
Botha was admitted and enrolled as an attorney in the then-Gauteng Division of the High Court in 1985. He practiced at various law firms from May 1985 to June 2012.
Subsequently, he commenced practice as a sole practitioner under the name ‘Botha Attorneys’, operating from Farm Vlakpan, Jagersfontein, Mahikeng. Before the removal of his name from the roll, he remained on the roll of legal practitioners of the High Court of South Africa, North West Division, Mahikeng.
Evidence to the court showed that Botha contravened several sections of the Legal Practice Act, amounting to his alleged misconduct and non-compliance.
“Botha failed to lodge unqualified audit reports for the periods ending February 2015 through February 2024, a total of 10 consecutive years. As a direct consequence, he was not issued with Fidelity Fund Certificates for the years commencing January 2016 through January 2025. During this period, Botha was not entitled to practice for reward, and both his clients and the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Fund were exposed to risk.
“It is also recorded that Botha failed to attend two Disciplinary Committee meetings convened in respect of his non-compliance. Botha failed to pay annual membership fees to the LPC in the total amount of R33,182, in contravention of Rules 4.1 and 6 of the LPC Rules,” the judgment read.
The court also heard that Botha failed repeatedly and systematically to respond to correspondence from the LPC, in contravention of the Code of Conduct.
Botha did not dispute the misconduct.
However, his contentions to the court were that he had personally attended the offices of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces in Pretoria in December 2015 and delivered all required notices and documentation to terminate his membership and cease practice.
He thereafter relocated to a farm in the Mahikeng district and has not practiced as an attorney since. Botha submitted that since 2015, he had been under genuine belief that he had been properly removed from the roll and that the necessary regulatory steps had been taken. According to Botha, he has had no trust account, no clients, and no files for approximately 10 years.
The court said it was satisfied that the offending conduct had been established on a balance of probabilities.
Judge Andrew Reddy said: “The failure to lodge audit reports and to hold Fidelity Fund Certificates for 10 consecutive years represents a profound and sustained dereliction of the most fundamental obligations of a legal practitioner. The regulatory framework governing these requirements exists precisely to protect clients and the public. A practitioner who ignores these obligations for a decade, whatever the subjective reasons, cannot be regarded as fit and proper. We are, therefore, satisfied that Botha is not a fit and proper person to practice as a legal practitioner.
“The duration of the non-compliance, 10 uninterrupted years, and the scale of the regulatory defaults plainly exclude any lesser sanction. We are of the view that removal from the roll is the appropriate order… Botha has produced no documentary evidence of the alleged notification. Simply put, no letter of resignation, no acknowledgement of receipt, and no correspondence from the former Law Society confirming the termination of his membership is before this court.
“The LPC’s records continued to reflect him as a practicing attorney throughout. Botha could, with relative ease, have obtained a closing audit report from his former auditors and procured documentary evidence of any communication with the former Law Society. Notably, none has been placed before the court,” said Reddy.