Peter Moyo’s lawyers who represented him in his now failed application to have Old Mutual’s non-executive directors declared delinquent and in contempt of court may find themselves in hot water.

A Business Day report says the same judges who handed Moyo, the former Old Mutual CEO, his latest court loss against his previous employer also reported his lawyers to the Legal Practice Council (LPC) for investigation after they drafted a letter accusing the court of bias during proceedings.

The complaint was contained in the more than 100-page judgment delivered by a full Bench of the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), which on Monday dismissed with costs Moyo’s consolidated applications to have Old Mutual’s non-executive directors declared delinquent and in contempt of court.

The issue arose after Moyo’s attorneys of record at the time – Mabuza Attorneys – sent a letter to the judges hearing the case towards end-2021 arguing that their client had the distinct impression that they were biased in favour of Old Mutual.

The letter came after the judges sent earlier correspondence to Moyo’s lawyers expressing dissatisfaction at various administrative lapses on their part, ranging from the preparation of their court papers to failure to define certain aspects of Moyo’s contempt application in a practice note.

In their ruling on Moyo’s consolidated contempt and delinquency application, the judges devoted considerable space to addressing the accusatory letter drafted by Moyo’s legal representatives, apparently on his behalf, says the Business Day report.

Describing the contents of the letter as ‘disquieting’, they said that suggesting the court had acted as a litigant against Moyo could potentially create the impression of unprofessional conduct by the judges.

‘This court accordingly directs that a copy of this judgment be sent to the chair of the LPC for investigation of the conduct of the legal practitioners responsible for drafting of the letter of 10 November 2021 and the matters ancillary thereto,’ the judgment said.

‘We thus leave this in the hands of the LPC, who has the legislated obligation to conduct an appropriate investigation on receipt of a complaint, which this judgment is.’

While the letter was signed by Mr RN Baloyi – and the court indicated it assumed it was he who drafted it – the judgment added that he was assisted by other members of Mabuza Attorneys including Mr T Sibuyi and Mr ET (Eric) Mabuza.

Mabuza reportedly declined to comment.

Nevertheless, according to the court judgment, Mabuza Attorneys withdrew as Moyo’s attorney of record on 8 April.

Full Business Day report