Eastern Cape Acting Judge Mvuso Notyesi is being sued for R1m in outstanding rent claimed by the Mthatha Catholic diocese.

Notyesi, who also sits on the JSC, is fighting the court claim, says a Daily Dispatch report.

He says his rent was offset by the R800 000 he spent in 2005 making the Mthatha offices occupied by his firm of attorneys habitable.

He has put two special pleas to the court in which he offers two technical defences.

In one, he says much of the debt the Catholic bishop, Sithembele Sipuka, is claiming, has prescribed. He also says the bishop should have cited his law firm, M Notyesi Inc, rather than him in his personal capacity.

He had never personally entered into a lease agreement, but his firm had.

According to the papers filed in the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda), Notyesi had owed the church over R1.1m in outstanding rent, but in December 2021, he had paid an amount of R100 000.

The Daily Dispatch report says in his plea statement, Notyesi said he had never entered into any lease agreement with the church in his personal capacity, and that he was ‘incorrectly and unduly cited’ as a party to the proceedings.

The church says Notyesi breached his obligations in terms of the oral lease, and that he had ‘on an ongoing basis’ failed, refused or neglected to pay towards his outstanding rent, amounting to over R1m.

The church asks for a court order cancelling the oral lease agreement, and an order ejecting him and his firm from TH Madala Chambers in Durham Street.

It asks for the payment of the R1m, as well as damages amounting to over R20 500 for alleged unlawful occupation of the premises since February this year.

In his defence, Notyesi says the church failed to cite Mvuzo Notyesi Incorporated as the party that entered into a lease agreement.

He said the church’s claim was therefore ‘materially defective’.

Full Daily Dispatch report