Assaults, insults and ‘witchcraft’ – how advocate Malesela Teffo got into a world of trouble with the legal council

If you’ve been following the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, which started in April, then you know about controversial advocate Malesela Teffo. Teffo is representing four of the five men accused of murdering the football star in 2014 at his girlfriend’s home in Vosloorus, Johannesburg.

During court proceedings, Teffo has often trended on social media for his outrageous comments. He has told the court that “the situation is f*cked up”; he has accused Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela of practising witchcraft; and he has even gone as far as accusing the Presidency of intimidating him. Teffo did not provide proof of his claims and the Presidency dismissed them as baseless.

Now, the Legal Practice Council (LPC) has filed papers in the Pretoria High Court to have Teffo suspended. Kabelo Letebele, the LPC’s spokesperson, said it had received 22 complaints regarding Teffo’s behaviour between 2019 and 2021.

The LPC is a national statutory body that regulates the affairs of all legal and candidate legal practitioners.

It has asked the court to strike Teffo off the roll of legal practitioners or to order that he is “suspended from practice as a legal practitioner until such time as he satisfies the court that he is fit and proper to practise as such”.

Teffo, who was admitted as an advocate in 2009, has mostly been involved in representing SAPS employees in disciplinary hearings. He was previously a police officer.

Read more in Daily Maverick: “Defence lawyer in Senzo Meyiwa murder trial sent to holding cells with clients after dramatic court arrest”

In the court papers, the LPC said it had concluded that Teffo “has made himself guilty of unprofessional or dishonourable or unworthy conduct and is no longer a fit and proper person to continue to practise as a legal practitioner or an officer of the honourable court”. His behaviour had “damaged and affected the good standing and reputation of the profession as a whole”.

When the matter was heard in court on 4 August, News24 reported that Teffo told the Pretoria High Court he had not been given a chance to respond to the complaints. But Acting Judge Thembi Bokako pointed out that the court had in its possession documents that included correspondence confirming that the LPC had sent the documents to him.

Not the first time