Our Team
To be a trusted, modern legal practice recognised for integrity, senior-driven expertise and commercially sound legal solutions delivered with consistency and accountability.
Ryda Kloppers
Director
Ryda Kloppers is a senior legal practitioner with more than 35 years experience, specialising in conveyancing and complex property-related matters. She holds a law degree from the University of Pretoria and completed her articles at JJ Kloppers & Associates in Brakpan. Her career has been shaped by a strong people-centred approach and a deep understanding of the property sector, inspired from an early age by exposure to the estate agency industry.
Ryda provides firm-wide leadership, strategic oversight, and quality control, ensuring that all matters are managed with precision, compliance, and consistency. She focuses on building and maintaining trusted relationships with clients, estate agents, and financial institutions, and is committed to guiding clients through significant property transactions with professionalism, care, and efficiency.
“My main focus as Director is to manage the firm, build relationships with clients and agents and to ensure that we achieve our goals and live our values.”
Jaco Steenekamp
Director
Jaco Steenekamp is an admitted attorney with right of appearance in the High Court of South Africa and holds an LLB degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has more than fifteen years’ experience in labour law, property law, and general legal practice, with a strong focus on matters requiring procedural precision, strategic oversight, and effective risk management.
During the course of his career, Jaco has chaired in excess of 5,000 disciplinary hearings for high-level and listed corporate clients, giving him extensive insight into complex employment relations and compliance-driven environments. He has a particular interest and specialises in property-related matters and is recognised for his ability to build and retain long-term client relationships through practical, commercially sound legal guidance and consistent senior involvement.
“My main focus as Director is to manage the firm, build relationships with clients and agents and to ensure that we achieve our goals and live our values.”
Cynthia Mthembu
Director
Cynthia Mthembu is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa, with right of appearance in the High Court. She holds an LLB degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and a Certificate in Compliance (Law), and has a well-established practice across commercial, property, and litigation matters, with a strong appreciation for procedural accuracy and regulatory compliance.
Her expertise includes commercial and corporate advisory work, litigation and dispute resolution, property and conveyancing matters, as well as estates administration and family law. Cynthia is recognised for delivering practical, well-reasoned legal solutions and for her ability to operate effectively within compliance-driven and risk-sensitive environments, serving both private and corporate clients with clarity and professionalism.
“My main focus as Director is to manage the firm, build relationships with clients and agents and to ensure that we achieve our goals and live our values.”
Hein Stassen
Partner & Conveyancer
Hein obtained a Baccalaureus Legum (LLB) from the Nelson Mandela University in 2018. He completed his Articles of Clerkship at GP van Rhyn Minnaar & Co Inc. in Uitenhage and was admitted as Attorney and Conveyancer in 2021.
He relocated to Johannesburg in the same year to join AG Smuts & Kloppers as an Associate in the conveyancing department. He Has since obtained a Junior Partnership at the firm.
Shauna van Niekerk
Bookkeeper
Maria Dominicus
Conveyancer & Professional Assistant
Nadia Steyn
Senior Conveyancer Secretary and PA to Senior Partner
Vusi Mtshali
Senior Bonds Administrator
Jakes du Plessis
Marketing Manager
Lindsay Deacon
Director of First Impressions Reception
Fikile Malaza
Senior Transfer Secretary
Chanté van Rooyen
Typist and General Assistant
Kesh Balkishun
Senior Bonds Assistant & Student of Law
Simoné Strydom
Senior Conveyancing Secretary & Paralegal
Sippie, Patricia, Allie Jnr, Lindsay, & Poppie
Our Office Support Team
Our Values
Professionalism
Being present, connecting with dignity and respect
Excellence
We strive to better ourselves with each transaction
Passion
Committed in heart and mind to greatness
Trustworthiness
We are consistently open, honest, ethical and genuine
Service
We build open and honest relationships with consistent communication
Where it all began
Our Story
AG Smuts & Kloppers Attorneys traces its roots back to Brakpan, where Mr A.G. Smuts and Mr Johan Kloppers joined forces to amalgamate their respective practices, laying the foundation for a firm built on integrity, sound ethics, and a deep respect for the law. It was within this environment that Ryda Kloppers legal journey began. Inspired from a young age, Ryda chose to pursue a career in law and, upon completing her articles, entered into partnership with her father, Johan Kloppers.
For fourteen years, Ryda practised alongside her father, absorbing not only his extensive legal knowledge but also his unwavering ethical standards, work ethic, and genuine passion for serving clients with care and diligence. These formative years shaped the values that continue to define the firm today.
In 2006, Ryda established the Randburg office, steadily developing it into a respected and high-performing practice. In 2014, she acquired Manor House on Conrad Drive, and on 1 November 2014, AG Smuts & Kloppers Attorneys relocated to these premises, from where the firm continues to operate and grow.
At AG Smuts & Kloppers Attorneys, Ryda has cultivated a professional yet deeply personal environment, where colleagues and clients alike are treated with respect, warmth, and a sense of belonging. While firmly rooted in traditional values, the firm embraces innovation and the transition to a digital legal environment, continuously adapting to ensure efficiency, accuracy, and relevance in a changing landscape.