Brigitte Mbandla spoke at the justice department's conference yesterday. The Business Day's report doesn't really say anything more than we expected. Rhetoric abounds “We cannot create equal opportunity in a climate of systemic inequality unless we take special measure to bring about equity.”
The report is scant on actual actions that are going to be taken - just a recommendation that the government COULD IMMEDIATELY allocate 50% of its legal work to black lawyers.
And
The conference SHOULD look at the role of state attorney’s office, government departments and state-owned enterprises, which were all guilty of not providing legal work for black practitioners.
(The uppercase words are my emphasis - question is, will they?)
The legal charter is going ahead though, it will probably be very similar to Codes of Good Practice, as most charters tend to be these days. There are some unique legal features "The draft charter proposes that the pro-bono work system envisaged by some commentators in the legal profession be developed and enhanced. It also suggests that the role of paralegals be recognised and enhanced."
My two cents worth suggests that the legal profession is going to find itself waiting a while to begin the transformation process. Do we really need another charter, why can't the professions just adopt the dti's codes with a few modifications?
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