Former rugby star Joost van der Westhuizen has launched an urgent court bid against the Attorneys’ Fidelity Fund to recoup money he says is due to him from Klinkenberg Inc, according to Rapport. Attorney Robert Klinkenberg committed suicide in December 2015 and a curator appointed by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces found a deficit of millions of rands in the trust account.

Van der Westhuizen says Klinkenberg assisted him with his divorce and his financial affairs when he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in 2011. Klinkenberg acted as his ‘de facto curator’ and monies were channelled through Klinkenberg’s trust account. The Fidelity Fund had received 118 claims by 22 July totalling more than R40m and has paid out R24m to date, but declined Van der Westhuizen’s claim as invalid.

According to the Fidelity Fund’s answering papers filed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), the claim was rejected as Van der Westhuizen never explicitly made a claim of theft of his money and that his claim falls squarely within the liability exclusion in the Attorneys Act in that the money was paid over to Klinkenberg to invest.

Van der Westhuizen says he is ‘dependent’ on the R385 665 plus interest to fund his medical treatment and other expenses. He has reached the stage where he can move only his eyes and is fed through a tube.

Full report in Rapport