Gentleman Waldo marks 40 years ‘legally speaking’ on Gladstone Street

Waldo Thöle is one of the town’s gentlemen. And that is a term that is not used lightly. He and his wife, Jenny, are deeply involved in the community through the Rotary Club, swimming (Jenny has taught hundreds of children to swim), the Elandskraal Bazaar and Church and many other initiatives. He was of course previously the world President of the Round Table organisation, 1991-92.
There are many jokes about lawyers but Waldo certainly does not fall into any of those definitions!
Welcoming and warm, Waldo appears to be always in a hurry but has remarkable listening skills – a good trait to have when you are in Court. However, his cool and collective nature was put to the test last Friday when Jenny and his staff at Hellberg Thöle Inc, in Gladstone Street, surprised him with an impromptu mid-morning tea. Carefully planned by Jenny, this was to mark Waldo’s 40 years behind his desk at Hellberg Thole Inc – previously Hellberg and van Rensburg.
Once the surprise wore off and he was joined by current and some previous staff members – including friends, Karl and Sonja Hellberg (representing the Hellberg side of the business – founder Wulf and son, Rolf, have since sadly passed on), Waldo reminisced about his time in Dundee.

Karl Hellberg, Jenny Thöle and Waldo Thöle.
In Glencoe, the firm was known as Van Rensburg and Hellberg while in Dundee it was vice versa! Waldo remembers the laborious task of drafting wills, contracts and other documents with typewriters and filing cabinets before the onset of the computer age. Karl Hellberg had memories of a garage being next door to the lawyers, while some of the ladies – like former staff member Nicky Venter – remembers nearby Andrews Cafe where there were always fresh buns on offer.

With a background in Durban, Waldo says he surprises his colleagues in the legal profession in the bigger centres when he recounts some of the matters he has dealt with in little old Dundee. One of the more famous was the Derek Bond matter in 2003 – the British pensioner who was arrested at gunpoint by the SAPS on instructions of the FBI in the United States. He had been mistaken for an international fraudster who had stolen the real Derek Bond’s identity. An international warrant had been issued and when the Bonds landed in Cape Town the red flag went up.

The FBI was not very co-operative and were keen to extradite Derek to the USA.

“Derek was 72 and he and his wife were holidaying in the country and he was arrested at Babanango Lodge and taken to Durban where he was held in a cell and forced to sleep on a concrete floor.
“Derek was a much respected Rotarian in Bristol and through another Rotarian lawyer in Cape Town, I was contacted and asked to urgently represent him – which of course I did.” The FBI was not very co-operative and were keen to extradite Derek to the USA. When the story broke in the UK, Waldo became a bit of a celebrity with every newspaper wanting to interview him.

“The telephone never stopped ringing with UK journalists wanting every detail,” said Waldo. Eventually, the truth came out when a tip-off to the US State Attorney’s office led the FBI to arrest the real international crook in Las Vegas. Derek was released and Waldo was with him when a press conference was held in Durban. “It was like a movie – the FBI was not budging and poor Derek was caught in between. Fortunately, we were able to represent him and get him out of his predicament that made world headlines.” Derek was later treated to a free return trip to SA for him and his wife by KZN Tourism. Derek also thanked those who helped him by donating towards Dundee Rotary projects in the area.
It was the happy ending that Waldo was thrilled with and it course led to a friendship with Derek and his wife and one that ultimately benefited the community through Rotary – and community service is something very close to Waldo’s heart.