Attorney’s link to dirty land deal is under investigation

THE Law Society of Namibia has launched a disciplinary investigation into the professional conduct of a Gobabis attorney.

Bennie Venter was accused by the High Court in November last year of purposely designing a scheme to make the sale of a farm appear as a loan agreement in an attempt to circumvent the Land Reform Act.High Court Judge Sylvester Mainga said in his judgement that the sale of the farm was disguised as a loan agreement between a farmer and buyer, to escape the provisions of the Land Reform Act.Based on the judgement and a subsequent report in The Namibian in February this year, the Law Society of Namibia has instructed its disciplinary committee to investigate Venter’s involvement in the case.’Council on Thursday considered the judgement (of Judge Mainga) and decided to refer it to the disciplinary committee,’ the Director of the Law Society, Retha Steinmann, said yesterday.The Namibian reported in early February about the application filed by 80-year-old Gobabis farmer, Jan Harm Labuschagne, in which he complained about a deal which went sour between him and a South African, Waldemar Strauss, when Strauss failed to comply with the payment plan.The scheme, ‘engineered’ by Venter, aimed to circumvent the Land Reform Act, which requires that any farmer interested in selling his farm must grant Government the first opportunity to make an offer. Only then can a farm be put for sale on the open market.Judge Mainga said that Venter’s denials of the degree of his involvement in the case were ‘false and a blatant lie and an attempt to mislead the Court’.Judge Mainga deemed the contract between the parties as null and void, based on the fact that ‘the transaction violates the provisions of section 17 of the Land Reform Act’.He added that the ‘transaction is dishonest as the parties do not really intend it to have the legal effect which its terms conveys to the outside world.’He added that the intention of the parties was to sell and buy, and ‘no shred of evidence’ was brought forward that showed that the intention was ever to ‘lease his farms or dispose them in any manner other than selling’.Judge Mainga noted in his written judgement of the application that Venter apparently advised Labuschagne that the scheme was legal.Judge Mainga also said that it is not certain whether the payment received by Venter, consisting of N$100 000 and a tractor valued at N$70 000 was in fact a ‘fee’ or a ‘commission.’He further noted that all parties, including Venter, Labuschagne and Strauss, could not ‘moan when the agreement went sour’ as the scheme was designed in a move to deliberately ‘cheat’ the Agricultural Land Reform Act, Section 17(1) and (2).In his application, Labuschagne requested that the judge rule that Venter return the tractor given to him ‘as part of his commission in respect of the agreement’ and that he does not use any of the money paid to him by Labuschagne.The judge ruled that the tractor be returned to Labuschagne with immediate effect and that Venter and Strauss pay the costs of the application.