‘Absolute rubbish’: EFF lawyer slams AfriForum's claim it falsified proof of payment of legal fees

AfriForum could face a costly defamation legal battle as the EFF is threatening to sue the organisation after it accused the party and Ian Levitt Attorneys of falsifying proof of payment of legal fees.

This week, AfriForum posted on social media two Standard Bank proof of payment notifications of R153,138.50 and R163,441.39 paid by the EFF for legal fees.

Political and social commentator Khaya Sithole questioned the names of former bank directors appearing in the notification fine print.

AfriForum spokesperson Ernst van Zyl told TimesLIVE after people on social media questioned the notification, the organisation wrote to Standard Bank's fraud department to verify the document. Van Zyl said the bank confirmed the document was fraudulent.

Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Linstrom told TimesLIVE the bank was investigating the notifications.

“Our confidentiality duties prevent us from disclosing any further specific information in this regard,” he said.

Owner of the law firm Ian Levitt told TimesLIVE the accusation was “absolute rubbish”. 

“It would be extremely absurd for payment to reflect in AfriForum’s account and to send fraudulent proof of payment when one doesn’t need to send a proof of payment as the money reflects in the account.

“To include insinuations of my law firm being involved in doctoring documents has taken personal fights between our clients and AfriForum to a new level. AfriForum will pay heavily for this misinformation they are peddling on social media,” Levitt said.

The EFF has sent a letter through its lawyers to AfriForum threatening legal action. The party demanded AfriForum apologise for the allegation by 5pm on Friday or face legal action.

The letter seen by TimesLIVE reads: “We hereby demand that you retract the statements made against our client. Your retraction is to take the form of a public statement in which you, inter alia, apologise to our clients for the allegations made. 

“Should you fail to accede to this demand by 5pm today, we hold instructions to institute further legal action against you in which a punitive costs order will be sought.” 

AfriForum confirmed the organisation had received the letter.

Here is a screenshot of the EFF bank account statement reflecting the payments:

TimesLIVE