The Sheriff of the Court for Lower Umfolozi doesn’t have space for the household goods that have been attached from former SAA chairperson, Dudu Myeni. The goods were attached in the execution of a writ obtained by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to recover R200,000 in legal fees – following Myeni’s unsuccessful legal challenge against the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) – but remain uncollected due to storage problems.

The DoJ has now confirmed that it intends asking the CIPC, on whose behalf it obtained the writ, to cough up an advance payment for a storage facility to hold, among other things, a TV, chest freezer, washing machine, microwave, lounge and dining room furniture, and a Jeep Cherokee, belonging to Myeni.

The writ was obtained in June 2018, but the Sheriff has to date not been able to remove the items in order for them to be sold on auction to recover the money Myeni owes.

DoJ spokesman, Chrispin Phiri, said the notice of execution against Myeni remains valid, but added: “The Sheriff of the Court in whose jurisdiction the attached property is located, has not been able to remove and sell the attached property because the Sheriff has indicated that there is no storage facility to keep the attached property.”

As a result, the Sheriff’s office has requested that the State Attorney makes an advance payment for storage of the goods.

“However, the State Attorney is not allowed to make any advance payment and due to this challenge, the client, the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission has been requested to consider paying for the storage costs in advance to allow us to instruct the Sheriff to remove and sell the attached property.”

The CIPC has not responded to this request yet, said Phiri.

Myeni was slapped with a compliance notice by the CIPC in January 2017 following an investigation into a complaint that she had misrepresented a 2013 SAA Board resolution for the acquisition of new aircraft.

She challenged this notice at the Companies Tribunal which found, in June 2017, that it did not have jurisdiction to consider her request to overturn it, thereby dismissing her application with costs.

Following unsuccessful negotiations to have Myeni pay the CIPC’s costs, the DoJ obtained the writ of execution against her in June 2018 and the cheque, due to taxpayers, has been held up since.

Four months ago, in response to questions from Daily Maverick, the DoJ said it was “negotiating” with Myeni’s lawyers.

Now, Phiri says: “We further confirm that our attempts to get an amicable solution through the attorneys of Ms Myeni have not yielded positive results.”

This means that as soon as storage space becomes available, the Sheriff would be instructed to collect Myeni’s personal belongings and arrange for the sale thereof on public auction. Attempts to reach Myeni on her cellphone and via two different email addresses were unsuccessful.

Myeni’s legal woes are stacking up though. In addition to battling shocking allegations levelled at her at the State Capture commission, she is also embroiled in another round of costly litigation involving civic organisation, Outa.

Outa has gone to the High Court to have Myeni declared a delinquent director and, if successful, would see her barred, for a set period, from serving as a director of a company, including the Jacob Zuma Foundation, which she has chaired for many years. Myeni is defending the case. DM