Johannesburg – The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has made an about-turn on its decision to use the courts to force prominent lawyer Barnabas Xulu to pay back over R20- million in legal fees.
Sunday World has established that the department was in talks with Xulu, who has represented Western Cape judge president John Hlophe in several cases, regarding the funds.
In January last year, the Western Cape High Court declared a service-level agreement [SLA] and settlement agreement between the department and Xulu’s law firm, B Xulu and Partners Incorporated (BXI), invalid and ordered the firm to pay back the money. Xulu, who has been in a protracted battle with the department, was paid for getting a multimillion-rand reparations settlement amount in lieu of lobster and hake that was plundered from the country’s seas by a Hout Bay fishing company.
A US court had ordered in 2017 that the late Cape Town businessman Arnold Bengis pay South Africa $37-million (over R500-million) for plundering lobster from the country’s seas.
The popular attorney, who was part of the Friends of Jacob Zuma, rendered the services and, after repeated requests for payment fell on deaf ears, obtained a writ and received the money via the sheriff. He used the money to pay debt including a US-based firm, his lawyer Isaac Shai told the court.
In October last year, the Western Cape High Court ordered that Xulu’s assets – including his home in the upmarket Ballito in KwaZulu-Natal, a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS and his law firms’ accounts – be frozen. Xulu has since appealed the matter at the Supreme Court of Appeal.
But it has emerged that the department was now trying to settle the matter out of court with Xulu, in light of the expensive litigation process. “BXI secured a settlement, which brought into the national fiscus over $8.7-million. Even assuming that we do not use the SLA, the question remains what is fair and just compensation for my services on a quantum merit basis.
Mr Xulu litigated the matter in the US where the standard contingency fee is set at one-third of the total recovered amount,” attorney Bonginkosi Ndumiso argued on behalf of Xulu.
“This would have entitled me to $2.9-million plus reimbursement for his out-of-pocket expenses. The fact that the SLA was set aside does not mean that the parties did not perform their respective services,” he said.
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