Law firm takes MK Party to court over R12.5m bill

The long-standing relationship between Jacob Zuma and attorney Barnabas Xulu seems to be on the rocks, with the lawyer’s firm heading to court to recover R12.5m in legal fees from Zuma’s MK Party.

The law firm JG and Xulu Incorporated has approached the high court in Johannesburg, alleging the party failed to honour an agreement to pay R500,000 a month towards its outstanding legal fees after making an initial R1m payment.

The claim is for legal fees, counsel costs, expert expenses, travel and other disbursements accumulated while representing the MK Party in politically significant litigation.

According to the particulars of the claim, JG and Xulu was appointed by the MK Party in June 2024 to launch an application in the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein to set aside the national and provincial election results due to alleged vote rigging and irregularities.

It lists the money owed for this case as R6.9m, describing it as complex and saying it required the consideration of voluminous election data and the involvement of three counsel and specialists in digital technology.

It also says the geographical spread of the stakeholders involved in the matter resulted in travel and accommodation expenses between Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.

It adds that the billing agreement between the party and the firm provided for different hourly rates depending on the seniority of the legal resource. An executive resource or director was billed at R5,000 an hour, while a senior attorney was charged at R3,750 an hour. Intermediate attorneys were billed at R2,750 an hour, junior attorneys at R1,800 and candidate attorneys at R1,250.

Secretarial and clerical support was billed at R1,000 an hour, while correspondence and telephone calls attracted separate charges. The agreement also provided for travel, accommodation and other disbursements to be billed separately.

The second major component of the law firm’s claim relates to parliamentary matters.

JG and Xulu says it was appointed by the MK Party to defend its then deputy president John Hlophe against three applications brought in the Western Cape High Court in July 2024.

The applications were brought by the DA, Freedom Under Law and Corruption Watch and sought to interdict Hlophe from participating in the Judicial Service Commission because he had been impeached.

Last month, the MK Party’s financial affairs were placed under the direct control of its president, Jacob Zuma, after he appointed himself as the party’s primary “accounting officer”.

The move saw senior party officials, including secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo and treasurer-general Brian Molefe, stripped of their signing powers on the party’s bank accounts, effectively centralising control of its finances under Zuma.

Xulu has a long-standing association with Zuma. In 2006, he established the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust to help raise funds for Zuma’s legal defence during his rape trial, placing him firmly within Zuma’s network of political and legal supporters.

The attorney has previously downplayed suggestions that his relationship with Zuma extends beyond professional and political support, arguing that his establishment of the trust was part of his legal work.

Nevertheless, his history as a prominent Zuma ally has repeatedly placed him in the spotlight.

He has also represented Minenhle Makhanya, the architect who designed the highly controversial multimillion-rand upgrades to Zuma’s private homestead in Nkandla, as well as Hlophe in various legal battles and his impeachment proceedings.

The law firm says its mandate extended beyond the Western Cape High Court to the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court.

It was also appointed to defend the MK Party in another Western Cape High Court matter involving bishop-turned-politician Sophonia Tsekedi, who successfully challenged the party’s decision to expel him and drop him from its parliamentary list.

The firm says it also performed non-litigious work for the party’s parliamentary division, including drafting litigation and funding policies.

But by May this year, the firm had sounded the alarm over the party’s failure to settle its accounts.

In correspondence dated May 7, JG and Xulu said Molefe was in possession of the statements, invoices, itemised billing schedules and supporting documents relating to the Electoral Court and parliamentary matters.

The firm claimed that parliamentary matters had not proceeded because of nonpayment. “The legal team and experts’ fees have been outstanding for over a year,” it added.

The dispute then moved into a payment arrangement. According to the particulars of the claim, on May 14 Molefe recorded an agreement with JG and Xulu under which the MK Party would immediately pay R1m and thereafter R500,000 a month until its debt was paid.

But according to JG and Xulu, the promised payments stopped after the initial R1m. The firm subsequently began sending demands to the party, after which it filed proceedings in the high court, claiming the party was in breach of the payment undertaking and had ignored the firm’s demands to remedy the breach. It said this meant the full outstanding amount had become due and payable.

MK Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu did not respond to requests for comment. Xulu also did not respond to questions.

In what appears to be a leadership overhaul, the party this week expelled two of its MPs, Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala and Pumlani Kubukeli. Earlier this month, Zuma appointed his son, Duduzane Zuma, as the party’s deputy president.