Join Adv Ngalwana SC in this second of four segments in a frank interview with the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. In this second segment, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng continues to share his insights on the following issue:
- The state of the Judicial System and its challenges
- Transformation of the Bench and Bar
On that note, I recall clearly in one JSC interview about a year ago from today, Minister Lamola, inquired to great extent on what some of the main reasons for the skewed briefing patterns are. Adv Zilwa SC, who was the candidate, stressed on policy from the State Attorney as one of the main reasons. What prevents the State Attorney (or government in general) from implementing a policy on, for eg., so much percentage of the work from the state goes to black and women counsel (and not only the same counsel we see on tv for almost every major government issue); that so much work in some areas of the law – for instance, constitutional, company law, maritime law, aviation, eg – goes to women and black counsel. And such a policy should obviously be monitored if the targets are being met.
The Minister raised the issue that the head of the office of the State Attorney has been vacant for some time, and that no compatible people are coming to the fore. That even if such a policy were to be adopted and implemented, it still requires the right people to be in charge. What, in your opinion, do you think are some of the key reasons why most practitioners do not avail themselves? Especially owing to the fact that this is a position that could help foster some of the transformation that the profession so desperately needs.
Adv. Ngalwana, what often does not receive attention is the inferiority complex of the black attorneys in white firms which makes them brief white advocates religiously. Some of these attorneys are members of organisations such as NADEL, BLA, etc. Black firms also regularly brief white males for “important” work. I think that immense progress in regards transformation would be made if the above is addressed.
With the establishment of PABASA I had imagined that there was going to be a mass migration of black and female lawyers from the GCB constituent bars to PABASA, but that didn’t happen. Even though I appreciate that I do not know the whole story, I was disappointed to see AFT fighting desperately for its members in PTA to remain members of the PTA Bar instead of helping grow PABASA PTA. This gave me the impression that AFT itself does not believe in transformation. It confuses transformation with white acceptance. I am interested in your views on my sentiments.
https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/news/racism-allegations-rock-financially-strained-pretoria-law-society-48954756
Hi Tankiso. I share your frustration on AFT. PABASA took a deliberate decision not to recruit members. Those who are there are advocates who joined because they share our ethos. WE believe in quality of Counsel, not large numbers. So, we have turned away many who wanted to join but did not quite fit.
As regards briefing patterns, we are continuously addressing this. As a starting point, those of us who are senior enough have taken a decision never to accept a brief without a junior. That way, our juniors are not without work and they gain experience and we learn from them in their areas of interest.
Thank you for your engaging.