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Suspected fake lawyer hands herself in

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An Eastern Cape woman accused of having defrauded unsuspecting clients of thousands of rands by purporting to be an advocate, has handed herself over to the police.

City Press has reliably learnt that Luyanda Mqingwana walked into the King William’s Town police station on Friday to hand herself over and to face a charge of intimidation related to her alleged fraudulent activities.

This comes amid an ongoing investigation conducted by City Press into her alleged fraud.

Her former clients approached the newspaper this week claiming that Mqingwana had duped them into paying thousands of rands by promising to represent them in their legal cases.

King William’s Town police spokesperson Captain Siphokazi Mawisa confirmed that Mqingwana handed herself over to the police.

“The suspect (38) went to the police station today after the investigating officer visited her and could not find her.

"Police consulted the prosecutor and were advised to take a statement from the suspect and take the docket to court on Monday for [a] decision.”

Mawisa said Mqingwana was later released and would wait for the court’s decision.

One of Mqingwana’s previous clients told City Press that she met Mqingwana in 2015 when she had problems at work.

“She was staying at Athlone Gardens. I had disciplinary charges so she asked for R10 000 for consultation and I gave her [the money].

"She gave me documents she asked me to prepare. Each time I met her, she asked for R5 000 and she did not have receipts, but I was desperate for a lawyer.”

The source said Mqingwana indicated at the time that she specialised in labour matters.

“Each time she had to go to a case, she would make up an excuse, but I kept paying until the amount was R65 000. I ended up winning my case with the help of unions.”

As an attempt to get the money back, the source said she approached the Bhisho Advocates’ Chambers, but no one knew about Mqingwana’s practice and offices.

“I tried to open a case, but I was told I freely gave her the money. Hence, I went to report her to the chambers. I gave up after I heard she was not an advocate and that she failed the law degree she was doing at Fort Hare University.”

At the time, the source said Mqingwana was driving a personalised Mercedes-Benz and a green Jaguar.

Another source said she met Mqingwana when she was staying at a townhouse in King William’s Town.

“She said she was an advocate dealing with commercial law and disciplinary cases and that she did her LLB in Pretoria years ago.

"We exchanged numbers and some time in July last year I had a legal problem and I thought of her, as I didn’t have money for lawyers.

"I met her and she asked me for R5 000 for my case. She said she wouldn’t even go to court, but would just write some letters to sort out my car problem.”

The source said she raised the money and paid her in cash.

“She never did anything. My car was only sorted out through the ombudsman. After that, she came back and told me she had sorted my car out, so I needed to pay her more money. I refused.”

She said she learnt from a friend, who lived not far from the townhouse, that Mqingwana was a “fake advocate” and that she failed law at Fort Hare.

“So, I started asking questions and I met a woman who helped the son of a friend who had problems at Selborne [College]. That is when the truth came out – that she was nothing but a fake.”

The source said she could not open a case because Mqingwana allegedly threatened her, saying she was “connected”.

When City Press conducted a search for her social media profiles, Mqingwana stated in Who’s Who – an online publication containing biographies of professionals and companies – that she is an Eastern Cape-based commercial law practitioner.

She further states: “Recently qualified as an advocate in the commercial law field. Involved in charity work in the NGO sector, specialising in child law.”

Mqingwana claims that she obtained an LLB in commercial law and an advanced certificate in child law from the University of Pretoria between 1998 to 2001 and commercial law diploma from Damelin in 2008.

On LinkedIn, another social network for professions, she repeated her claims that she studied at the University of Pretoria between 1998 to 2001 and obtained an LLB in commercial law.

In addition, she claimed to have been a research associate advocate at the Justitia Advocates’ Chambers in East London from 2010 to present, totalling seven years and two months.

However, Bhisho Society of Advocates chairman Mzwandile Ntsaluba SC said Mqingwana was not a member.

“Luyanda Mqingwana is not, and has never been, a member of the Bhisho Society of Advocates.

"A few years ago the lady, whose name matches those of the subject of your enquiry, claimed to be an advocate, including Senior Counsel, when in truth she was not.

"This was brought to our attention, but she removed herself from that particular matter before we could do anything about it.

"We would be interested to know what triggered your enquiry, as we carry the responsibility of protecting our profession in the eyes of the public.

"Such responsibility extends our disciplinary authorities even to advocates who are not our members.

"However, if someone who is not even an advocate in any manner, directly or indirectly, practises as an advocate or holds himself or herself as, or pretends to be, or makes use of any name, title, addition or description implying or tending to induce the belief that he or she is an advocate, or is recognised by law as such, that person is guilty of an offence.”

Ntsaluba said this was in terms of section 9(3) of the Admission of Advocates Act.

“That would accordingly be a matter to be pursued in terms of the criminal justice system.

"If she is not an advocate, which I suspect is the case, hers is simply a criminal case and there is little we can do from our side other than disowning her. She must be reported to the police,” he said.

When approached for comment, Mqingwana said: “Firstly, any of my pictures and captions that might be extracted from any media platform and used for publication will be contravening my privacy.”

She said she was not affiliated to any bar of advocates in South Africa, nor purported to be one.

“I did obtain the qualifications as prescribed,” she said.

She provided City Press with a copy of her advanced certificate in child law and diploma in commercial law.

Mqingwana has not responded to questions about the LLB in commercial law she claimed she had obtained.

She promised to give the newspaper her side of the story.

“When this expedition about tarnishing my name is done, I would like to give you a proper story to work on, one that has a paper trail and facts about me. You will find it intriguing.

"I was planning to involve the media at the end of this month. Please refer me to someone else in your office who might want to run with it,” Mqingwana said.

Rikus Delport of the University of Pretoria said university records did not indicate that Mqingwana completed an LLB qualification.

“The university condemns the practice of falsifying qualifications in the strongest possible terms. It is a criminal offence and will be reported to the SA Police Service. From our records, it appears that she registered for the course, but did not complete it,” Delport said.

He referred questions about the authenticity of the advanced certificate to the SA Qualifications Authority (Saqa).

Saqa and Damelin had not responded to questions at the time of publication.

Questions were also sent to University of Fort Hare spokesperson Lizo Phiti, but a response had not been received at the time of publication.

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