Nene quits costly court case

LOTTERY: FORMER COMPANY SECRETARY HIT HARD IN POCKET WITH PUNITIVE ORDER >>> Judge rules she knowingly abused fair legal processes.

- Tania Broughton

Former National Lotteries Commission (NLC) company secretary Nompumelelo Nene has finally thrown in the towel in her ongoing legal battles against those who seek to hold her accountable for her role in plundering NLC funds.

Nene resigned in January while on suspension and facing disciplinary proceedings.

But it has come at a cost. In at least two of her many failed court applications, she has been ordered to pay costs, on a punitive scale, from her own pocket.

Last year, High Court in Johannesburg Judge Stuart Wilson, in dismissing her urgent application to halt the disciplinary proceedings in which she was facing 145 charges of misconduct, said it was a hopeless case.

He said she should have known better as an admitted advocate and senior corporate lawyer. For this reason, he ordered that she pay the punitive costs personally.

This month, High Court in Pretoria Judge Jan Swanepoel expressed similar sentiments.

The matter before him involved an attempt by Nene to review and set aside a report by the auditor-general, which highlighted alleged irregularities committed under her watch.