-a thief is a thief and must be treated as a thief ....
Dear Ntate Lintle Tuke
Technically speaking, you are right that Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane should have adjudicated your civil claim against your crooked, shameless and scumbag member, Thejane Thejane, for stealing M262 000 from his poor client, 'M'e 'Matšepang Setala.
Armed with a civil court order you would then have attached Tejane's assets and recovered Mme Setala's money. But then it turns out Thejane's bank account, which you - as the Law Society of Lesotho - had successfully helped to freeze in another court judgment only had M4 maloti?
You however did not bother to indicate in your application - on behalf of Mme Setala - if Thejane had any other attachable assets? Ravenous and gluttonous crooks like him normally don't have any assets. Which is why they resort to stealing. Which is why Ntate Sakoane also failed to see the point of your application.
How where you going to explain to Mme Setala that after all the efforts, she could only access four maloti out of the M262 000 stolen from her by scumbag Thejane?
For Scrutator, it is very easy to see why CJ Sakoane was incensed by your application and why he declared that you are falsely raising the poor woman's hopes that you can help her get her money back?
So while you are right that a court case can have both a civil and criminal leg - and both must be adjudicated, and while you are also right that a court cannot compel a litigant to withdraw a case but just issue a ruling on that case, we are better off leaving those legal technicalities aside.
CJ Sakoane was right in admonishing your LSL for not instantly instituting criminal proceedings against Thejane. He is also right in accusing you of playing to the gallery and protecting your member instead of taking drastic criminal action against him? Your contention that a criminal case would have been instituted later after the civil process is disingenuous. If the LSL was effective and serious about reining in its crooks, Thejane would be behind bars now, having been denied bail.
Crooks and Scumbags
Ntate Tuke, let's face plain hard facts. CJ Sakoane spoke for many Basotho frustrated at the LSL's perennial inaction against its numerous criminal members. Remember, it's not only CJ Sakoane who has spoken out against errant lawyers. Judge Tseliso Monapathi is on record admonishing your members who operate from under trees and boots of their third and fourth hand cars imported from the trash yards of Tokyo and Hiroshima.
Granted, the LSL has a few honourable and highly esteemed lawyers. But you know very well that it is also constituted by ubiquitous crooks, thieves, scumbags, nincompoops, fraudsters, conmen, con women and downright Al Shababs. Which explains why many Basotho (who can afford it) go all the way to South Africa to seek better legal advice. You may be surprised that such conmen and thieves even exist in your Council or executive committee (whatever you call it), which oversees the LSL. One of them had the temerity to even subject us (the Lesotho Times) to some dishonest and vexatious litigation and the judge ordered that scumbag Council member of yours to reimburse our legal costs from his own pocket. Needless to say he hasn't. We are not surprised by that because the LSL harbours wretched "lawyers" who have total disregard of their clients and very little or no understanding of the law. How for instance, do you describe a lawyer who goes to court to waste the precious time of judges by asking them to shut down Scrutator and foreclose this publication completely because - in that lawyer's warped thinking - this newspaper is not "registered"? How do you describe such hogwash legal advice?
To your huge credit Ntate Tuke, you are at least trying to do something to reform the LSL. Past leaders of the organisation were comatose or criminals themselves. Your attempts to rein in corrupt lawyers are thus a breath of fresh air. However, your efforts must not only be done, they must also be seen to be done? So far you have been talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, and more talk Ntate Tuke.
Thejane should have dropped like manna from heaven for you. He should have been your example of how to deal with crooks swelling the ranks of your LSL. But he is still enjoying his loot. Your reasons of not dealing with him criminally are not convincing Ntate Tuke.
Which explains why CJ Sakoane is right in being angry with you. One reason Scrutator has fallen in deep love with CJ Sakoane is that he can be raw and crude if the circumstances demand it. He is not afraid to take his gloves off. He can be a judicial tyrant if the situation demands it. He states it as it is. As a strongwoman myself, who never minces her words, I admire all those qualities in a judge. Ntate Sakoane is securing the reputation and critical role of the judiciary, as one of the most important arms of state. But he is being let down by organisations like the LSL.
CJ Sakoane is certainly not motivated by any "hatred of the LSL" as you claim Ntate Tuke. He is simply speaking on behalf of all Basotho in condemning the crooks of the LSL.
What is the benefit of a civil judgment against a crook (Thejane) who has been stealing all his life and who sees no shame in stealing from a poor woman and spending her insurance pay-out on numerous nyatsis and booze?
To the contrary, the LSL's chances of recovering 'M'e Setala's money would have been enhanced if you had expeditiously instituted criminal proceedings against Thejane. The case against Thejane is open and closed. It is as clear as day. A crooked lawyer stole a poor woman's proceeds from a successful insurance claim?
Why do you believe that case can take five years to adjudicate in a criminal court as you claim? Granted, legal processes take long in Lesotho. But some of these lengthy processes are a legal canard which has become unduly institutionalised by devious lawyers? The more a case drags, the more they levy fees. If a case is as clear as 'M'e Setala's, it should be fast tracked and concluded and criminal Thejane locked and the keys thrown in the deepest part of Katse Dam.
CJ Sakoane would have been happy if the criminal case had landed on his desk. In fact, as a legal "expert" myself, Scrutator believes the odds of recovering 'M'e Setala's money are better in a criminal trial.
I have no doubt CJ Sakoane would have told Setala: "I sentence you to 15 years in prison for stealing a poor woman's money. I will add another 20 years unless you restitute by paying back her money within 72 hours"
Faced with the prospect of spending 35 years in jail, I bet Thejane would have asked whichever nyatsi - with whom she has stashed the loot - to retrieve it and pay it to 'M'e Setala immediately. If he has spent it all, he would have found it, probably from a fellow lawyer crook.
Your civil process - necessary as it might appear - amounts to tinkering on the edges Ntate Tuke. It's not too late for your LSL to heed CJ Sakoane's call and take drastic action against Thejane. You cannot say you have nothing else to do to assist 'M'e Setala. You have a lot to do.
Please institute criminal proceedings against him and engage the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to fast track the case via the High Court Registrar. I have no doubt CJ Sakoane will either allocate the case quickly to another judge or handle it himself. I would prefer he handles it himself. In the meantime, can the LSL please strike Thejane off the roll of lawyers and ensure that he is barred from practising law for life. You must also check if he is double dipping in South Africa and elsewhere and have him disbarred there as well. Please don't tell us Ntate Tuke that there are some sacrosanct, complex legal processes that you need to comply with before the LSL takes drastic action against Thejane. A thief is a thief and must be dealt with like a thief.
In your rebuke of CJ Sakoane, you speak in tongues Ntate Tuke. You imply that the LSL is doing something behind the scenes. That is not what is required here. What we want here is real action which the LSL must make public at a press conference. Please stop playing to the gallery Ntate Tuke. Show us real action as outlined above. CJ Sakoane is right to smell a rat. You appear to want a civil judgment to cover up for your inaction in the criminal leg to protect your member, as CJ Sakoane rightly stated. CJ Sakoane is right to refuse to play along with that hoax. I shall be monitoring this case closely until Thejane is locked up and the keys of his cell thrown down Katse. This is your test Ntate Tuke. Don't waste this opportunity to prove you are serious about freeing Basotho from the clutches of the entrenched crooks and scumbags in your LSL.
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Finally, an open letter to you Thejane
Dear Thejane Thejane
I often saw you boozing with different women in tow at various nightspots around Gauteng and KZN. You even tried a hitch on me after you followed me to the bathroom at the Maslow in Sandton the other day. I almost got tempted after I saw the cosy drinks you were buying the other chick. Anyway, I don't come cheap. I did not mind your outrageous behaviour because I thought you were spending your own money. Little did I realise you are a looter without a conscience. You have been enjoying the money you stole from a poor woman, who trusted you. You had - in any event - stolen from her already by overcharging her nearly M100 000 for "legal services". I have no words to describe you. To come up with the appropriate epithets, I have to run a competition to invite choice words to describe you.
For now, I can only say you are a disgrace to the legal profession and to anyone who identifies themselves as a lawyer. You are not only a scumbag, but a slimy scumbag. You are a pig. I apologise to pigs though as they are decent creatures from whom humanity draws nice barbecue ribs. You are a dog. I also apologise to men's best friend however. You are a fraudster, a conman, a dimwit. You are an embarrassment to your mother, your brothers, sisters, nephews, uncles, nieces, your village, your community, and to all Basotho. You are an Al Shabab. You deserve to rot in jail. I wish you had never existed. I wish to never see you again, even in your coffin.
Ache!!!!
