ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s ex-lover has lodged a complaint against his adviser Keith Khoza’s lawyer.
Norma Mbatha, an active member of the ruling party in Gauteng, has filed a complaint against legal eagle Kuvashen Padayachee with the Legal Practice Council (LPC) for the violation of Protection of Personal Information (Popi) Act.
She claims that the personal information that was searched and accessed by Padayachee through CSI Mobile Verification shows her personal information, contact details and residential address, including her previous addresses.
In her complaint, which she filed on May 3, Mbatha accused Padayachee of accessing her personal information from Lexis Nexis. This was at a time when he applied for a protection order against her on behalf of Khoza.
She said she was concerned that her safety had been compromised by Padayachee as he accessed the information without her knowledge.
Mbatha said she discovered the alleged violation on March 24 when she was served with court documents that contained a five-page report information that seemed to belong to Lexis WinDeed, a sister company of Lexis Nexis.
LPC’s disciplinary department senior legal officer in Gauteng, Jaco Fourie, wrote a letter to Mbatha on August 15, stating that Padayachee responded on July 28 to LPC to her complaint.
In his response, Padayachee said he requested the LPC to afford him time to deal with the Khoza matter.
On August 23, Fourie wrote another letter to Mbatha, telling her that her complaint would be presented to the LPC’s investigating committee and would revert to her in due course.
Mbatha, through her organisation, Izwi Labantu Forum (ILF), also wrote a letter to Lexis WinDeed CEO Collin May on March 14, asking him to assist her to get answers on how Padayachee accessed her personal information.
She told May that she had not given consent to anyone to search and access her personal information.
“Due to the sensitivity and the privacy of Ms Mbatha that has been abruptly invaded, we kindly request a response by 28 March 2023. Failing which, ILF, will proceed with its legal proceedings as per the information revealed on the document against Lexis WinDeed,” reads the letter.
On March 30, Lexis WinDeed’s head of product and risk solutions Rudi Kruger said Padayachee had done nothing wrong.
Padayachee concurred that Mbatha’s complaint was baseless.
“We are not going to comment on pending matters, save to record that Mbatha’s complaint to the LPC is baseless, and was lodged by her – as a fact-free stunt – purposed at stymieing litigation launched by our client, in which our client complained about her conduct in an application filed at the Randburg magistrate court. There is no truth to the allegation that there was any contravention of Popia. I thus look forward to
addressing this issue at the appropriate time and in an appropriate forum.”
Mbatha said: “I’ve noted an email Mr Padayachee sent to my legal team. The Popia matter is with the Legal Practice Council, and if Mr Padayachee feels it is baseless, let him prove his case there.”
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