Ex-premier Mathews Phosa is the major shareholder in a company offering the public a ‘budget price’ legal service
Khadija Magardie
Mathews Phosa, the former premier of Mpumalanga and the head of the African National Congress’s legal department, has reinvented himself as “the people’s lawyer”, selling his legal services to the public – for R30 a month.
Phosa is executive chair of a company called Legal Net, which runs from a nationwide toll-free number. For the monthly fee, clients and their families are offered “24 hour legal protection” by the company.
Staff were recently seen handing out flyers at the Zionist Christian Church (ZCC) Easter gathering at Moria, in the Northern Province. Legal Net also set up a roadside stall at the entrance to the pilgrimage site, where consultants assisted potential clients in signing up.
A large colour portrait of Phosa stared down from the front wall of the stall as ZCC pilgrims, mainly middle-aged men, crowded around consultants, who explained to them how the service works.
One consultant said the stall was doing a roaring trade, with many people signing up immediately, or asking for further information. Among the many services offered, the company posters – in three languages – advertise cover for divorces, labour matters, civil matters and criminal matters. Clients can choose to pay by stop order, cheque, postal order or direct debit order. The flyers describe Legal Net as “the best legal protection in South Africa”.
The company was started in August last year. Phosa came on board in February this year as the company’s executive chair. Legal Net is owned and run by three directors and Phosa, who is the majority shareholder.
Approached for comment, Phosa referred the Mail & Guardian to Legal Net CEO Jacques van der Merwe, who described the venture as “a budget price product” that was accessible to all South Africans. He refused to divulge the company’s annual turnover, but confirmed the company was prospering. “We are growing very, very fast,” he said.
Selling legal services by the roadside is a far cry from Phosa’s days as one of the ANC’s brightest legal minds. The popular leader, whose struggle credentials include Umkonto weSizwe regional commander of the political military committee, fell from grace following a series of high-profile corruption scandals in Mpumalanga, as well as what insiders said was a power struggle between Phosa and senior ANC leaders, including President Thabo Mbeki and Deputy President Jacob Zuma.
Political infighting within the party’s provincial leadership culminated in a report, drafted by a national executive committee of the ANC. The report accused Phosa of, among other things, having prior knowledge of the shady dealings within the province, and of “autocratic leadership”.
But it is believed that Phosa’s downfall was his failed bid for the deputy presidency of the party at the ANC’s 1997 Mafikeng congress. A bitter Phosa accused certain senior ANC leaders of a conspiracy to oust him from the premiership, and resigned last year. Phosa resurfaced earlier this year, when it was reported that he was involved in a Swaziland-based hardware franchise at White River.