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Auxilia Katongomara, Chronicle Reporter
THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) received 371 complaints against legal practitioners last year and the cases include money laundering, forgery and abuse of trust funds.

The lawyers’ regulatory body said the increase in complaints against its members could be a result of economic challenges, peer pressure and poor in-house training.

In his 2017 annual report, LSZ president Mr Misheck Hogwe said the number of complaints has increased over the years as members of the public are now enlightened on their rights.

“The nature of complaints seen this year include abuse and misappropriation of trust funds, money laundering, incompetence, forgery, and failure to honour irrevocable letters of undertaking.

Landlords and law firm employees have also approached the LSZ seeking help to recover their dues. Council has a standing position that failure to pay office rentals as well as salaries and wages is prima facie an act of unprofessional conduct,” said Mr Hogwe.

He said some members had been charged for practising without practising certificates (PCs) and some law firms have had to be closed.

According to the report, the LSZ received 371 complaints in 2017 and managed to clear only 27 and now has a cumulative backlog of 1 097 since 2014 in its system.

“As council, it is our role to arrest this increase in backlog so that we give confidence not only to members of the public but to those who bestowed us with the self-regulatory authority. We have to work hard to jealously guard this status,” he said.  “We have 1 097 cases which are in the LSZ system at the moment. Council finalised almost 200 cases which were placed before it. In addition, the Secretariat disposed of more than 100 cases either through mediation or by dismissal at an initial stage. We have set targets for 2018 for the secretariat in which Council wants to see a reduction in this backlog.”

Mr Hogwe attributed the increase in complaints by members of the public to the presence of the LSZ at the Trade Fair, Agricultural Shows and Open Days.

“This has resulted in a spike in the number of complaints that we receive each year. This has been worsened by other factors like poor in house training, economic pressure, peer pressure, societal expectations and unrealistic marital expectations.” said Mr Hogwe.

He said in 2017, the LSZ received more than 200 applicants to be admitted into the profession resulting in the profession surpassing the 1 600 mark. “The number of practising certificates issued each year continues to increase. This year, we surpassed the 1600 mark. Of these, 527 practicing certificates were issued to female lawyers. Though there was a slight decrease in the number of legal practitioners in private practice this year compared to last year, statistically, the female legal practitioners in private practice are at 35 percent of the membership,” said Mr Hogwe.

He said 39 new law firms were opened in 2017 with Harare contributing 25 and Bulawayo six.

Mr Hogwe urged members to carefully consider opening law firms as some of them were struggling to pay rentals as well as salaries and wages. — @AuxiliaK