---

Ike Kekana is facing a R380 000 defamation lawsuit from three members of the CPA for public statements he made as he was fighting corruption at Zebediela Estate.

---

Sizwe sama Yende

---

A prominent Limpopo lawyer fingered as being at the centre of the collapse of the what was once the biggest citrus producer in Africa has been struck off the roll as an attorney.

Morapedi Royi ‘Tumi’ Mokwena can no longer practise after the Polokwane High Court issued the order following an application by South African Legal Practice Council.

Mokwena’s transgressions were that he practised without fidelity fund certificate in 2009, 2012, 2014 and 2019. Every attorney in private practice is required to have the certificate to protect the general public against misappropriation of funds kept in the attorney’s trust account.

The council also indicated that he did not submit his annual auditor’s reports for 2021 and had failed to account about his trust account and pay his clients.

Mokwena’s trust account was found to be in deficit of R16 million in 2019 – R14.2 million of that money belonged to the land reform beneficiaries of Zebediela Estates.

The Save Zebediela Estate Committee, which reported Mokwena to the council seven years ago, said it was delighted by the court’s order.

“Even though it took seven years, we are grateful,” said the committee’s chairperson, Ike Kekana.

Mokwena became prominent when he represented Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema in his tax trial many years ago.

Zebediela Estate beneficiaries accused Mokwena of hijacking their project and being part of those who brought it down on its knees.

They said that Mokwena got a stake in the R61.4 million citrus estate through the back door in 2016. He came to Zebediela Citrus as a lawyer to represent the 1 500 beneficiaries when they were fighting the removal of a strategic partner, Henley Property Management.

Zebediela Citrus was one of the biggest citrus producers in Africa. In its prime, a decade ago, it produced 830 000 cartons of oranges, which were exported to Asia, Europe and Canada. The Bjatladi Communal Property Association (CPA) members discovered that Mokwena had become managing director of Zebediela Citrus without their knowledge.

Kekana whose elderly mother was a beneficiary said back then: “[Mokwena] represented the CPA and now he is calling himself the managing director and lives in one of the mansions on the farm, as if he has no legal practice any more. They pay R385 000 a month to a security company and money from the sales of the oranges goes into Mokwena’s trust account.”

That was when Kekana reported Mokwena to the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, urging the body to investigate him for unethical behaviour.

Meanwhile, Kekana is facing a R380 000 defamation lawsuit from three members of the CPA for public statements he made as he was fighting corruption at Zebediela Estate.

The trial started in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court this week.