The South African Civic Organisation (Sanco) intends laying a formal complaint against Willem Coetzee Attorneys with the Legal Practice Council. Sanco’s J.B. Marks chairperson, Kgotso Sehurutshe, sent a letter to Willem Coetzee Attorneys (legal counsel of the J.B. Marks Municipality) on 2 January 2021. The correspondence stated that they intended to “formally lay a complaint against the firm with the Legal Practice Council against its alleged unethical conduct as a trustee of a trust account and money belonging to J.B. Marks Municipality.
Sehurutshe added that Willem Coetzee Attorneys had fallen short of the norms and standards expected of a legal practitioner. “It is our view that your unethical conduct as a trustee with the abovementioned money or transactions that you authorised fell short of the norms and standards expected from you as a legal practitioner and they were done against the MFMA, PFMA and without council approval.
We are aware that you are a witness at the court of law in this matter. We are of the view that being a professional lawyer on its own it is not enough. We believe you should also be held responsible for your professional conduct regarding these public funds as the community is the shareholder of these funds,” the letter reads. 
Willem Coetzee Attorneys replied to this letter on 11 January 2021, stating that Sanco was not a client of theirs and, therefore, they do not need to offer explanations. Willem Coetzee Attorneys unequivocally stated that any action that Sanco would take against the firm at the Legal Practice Council or elsewhere would be vigorously defended. “We firstly wish to record that your letter does not provide any proper details of your ‘organisation’, nor does it contain any facts setting out its locus standi to involve itself in the matters it endeavours to address. “I confirm that your ‘organisation’ was not a client of mine, nor do you act on behalf of any client (or erstwhile client) of mine. As such, I have no obligation to account and/or report and/or provide explanations to your ‘organisation’” stated the reply.
“That being said, your ‘organisation’ is at liberty to engage the professional body to whom my firm and I belong, provided that your ‘organisation’ is (and is hereby made) expressly aware of the dire consequences for your ‘organisation’ if your actions in doing so in any manner whatsoever defame me or my firm, or cause us any damage or harm,” stated the letter.
Sanco’s intended complaint relates to money held in trust by the law firm for the municipality. The executive mayor and two other municipal officials were arrested last year and charged with theft and fraud.
