Architect disappears with our money

We paid WOW Architecture R 7,800 for building plans and part of their service was to hand in the plans and get it approved by council. I personally handed the plans over to Martin Delville-Juby and he confirmed that the plans would be handed in at council on that day. A week later I phoned to check if the plans were submitted and he did not answer. Another week went by without any response from Martin. I then checked with the town council whom confirmed that no plans have been submitted. It's now three weeks later since I handed the plans over to Martin and have heard from another party that he has disappeared because of owing money to some people. We now have to start from the beginning with a new architect, new plans and meaning we have lost our money, PLUS having to pay a new architect! All we want is for him to return our plans with all the necessary documents (which our money was intended for, example the engineer fees, council fees etc) so that we can submit ourselves.