Macia signed the power of attorney in Maputo on 9 March, during his son’s funeral. It authorised the office of Jurgens Bekker Attorney to represent the Macia family in all criminal and civil for a in South Africa.
Based on this document the South African law firm is now demanding the removal from the case of Jose Nascimento, the lawyer hired by the Mozambican government to assist the Macia family.
But Jossefa Macia says he has no idea what he was signing. The papers were thrust in front of him on the day of his son’s funeral, and they are all written in English, a language he does not speak.
“I’m asking the government to help me annul all these papers that I signed”, said Macia. “I did it without any clear explanation of what I was signing. Everything happened at my son’s funeral and I was not in any condition to decide anything responsibly. All the documents were in English and I couldn’t understand anything”.
“They just told me it was something to be signed in order to help me, without explaining what kind of help”, he continued. “Nobody told me it was for them to become my lawyers, something I would not have accepted, because the government had already given me legal assistance”.
Sources contacted by “Noticias”, say that it was a South African woman known to Mido Macia who brought the Jurgens Bekker firm into the case. She had allowed Macia to use part of her yard to build his modest house. Apparently she believed this gave her the right to take responsibility for arranging legal counsel for the Macia family – but without receiving any request or instructions from them.
Post published in: Africa News