The Supreme Court of Appeal SCA on Friday set aside a judgment of the Free State High Court, which had upheld a disciplinary sanction suspending an attorney who admitted to misappropriating client funds.
The SCA overturned the five-year suspension imposed by a disciplinary committee and instead ordered that the attorney, Johann Oosthuizen, be struck from the roll of legal practitioners.
Oosthuizen was admitted as an attorney in 2009 and began practising as a professional assistant at Van Deventer Thoabala Inc VDT in Bloemfontein an incorporated firm of attorneys, notaries and conveyancers. He became a director of VDT in June 2010 and remained in that position until his resignation in August 2020.