Will top SA advocates face censure after Namibia ruling?

Two prominent South African advocates have just lost their last hope of quashing their convictions in the Namibian courts. Johannesburg advocates Mike Hellens SC and Dawie Joubert SC had been found guilty on two counts, first, working as legal practitioners without an employment permit, and second, giving false or misleading information to immigration officers when they entered the country in 2019. Though they had gone to Namibia to appear in court in a bail application, they told the immigration officials they were there for a ‘visit’ and for a ‘meeting’. Both appealed against their convictions but they had also asked for a judicial review of the decision. In the High Court, they lost their appeal but won on the review. The outcome in both matters were taken to the apex Supreme Court for a final word. In December 2023, they lost their appeal at the Supreme Court. What would that same court say when the state appealed against the review finding? The Supreme Court has now given its answer: it found the review, that had favoured Hellens and Joubert, was wrongly decided, and set it aside, awarding costs against the two advocates in both the High Court and the Supreme Court. In her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, Carmel Rickard wonders if the top advocates will now face disciplinary action from the Bar and the Legal Practice Council.