service providers and registrants. The various PDAs were in attendance as well as several banks
and ONE|SURE.
After lunch it was down to the serious business as Mr Graham Bellairs and Ms Yusria Cornelius
presented on behalf of the Cape Law Society. The topic of the hour is something called “fee
sharing” between Debt Counsellors and Attorneys. They discussed several ways in which some
firms are using funds from one consumer to help cover the legal fee costs of another consumer
or where the Debt Counsellor does not use the funds exclusively for legal work or where the
legal firm may reimburse the Debt Counsellor in some way. Their message was clear: fee sharing
is illegal.
Ms Cornelius mentioned that some attorneys have not been able to get work from Debt
Counselling firms because they refuse to share fees in some way. The NCR and the Law Society
have met and will issue a joint statement on the topic shortly.
Ms Cornelius mentioned that Debt Counsellors can do legal work and prepare documentation
etc (they are the applicant) but they simply must not charge for the work (unless it is legal work
for the NCT where the NCR has said that Debt Counsellors can charge a “legal fee”).
Where the presentation had been going strong (if somewhat stern) things next turned sour as
Ms Cornelius made seemingly condescending comments about longstanding Debt Counsellor
Mr John Steyn’s contribution in helping establish the now commonly used debt review court
application documentation. These were not well received and the meeting almost came to a halt
among the raised voices, hushed boos and heckling. Ms Kedilitile Legodi apologised on behalf
of the Cape Law Society and managed to get things back under control, though some people
began to leave at that point.
Ms Senyarelo next took the podium again to discuss the NCRs complaints process. The NCR
are trying to resolve complaints within 14 days and she discussed the steps the NCR use in this
process. Interestingly as per the NCA the NCR are not required (or supposed) to resolve matters
only consi \