Mogoeng advocates for end to inequality

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Image source: YouTube

That's according to the Action Group on Briefing Patterns in the Legal Profession, which is steering the campaign.

"The chief justice said the government and state-owned enterprises seem to prefer to appoint white practitioners, especially at senior level," said chairman Busani Mabunda.

Mabunda said Mogoeng "sees the fact that black and female practitioners do not get the opportunity to develop their skills as a huge problem. At the Constitutional Court, high-level work did not appear to be going to blacks and women practitioners".

Lack of quality work

Mogoeng has long been vocal about transformation in the legal sector. In 2013 he said black women were encouraged to study law but once they qualified, many abandoned law because of lack of quality work.

Since March last year the group, made up of representatives of attorneys, advocates, and of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, has been campaigning for an end to such discrimination.

Its research had revealed that lucrative work went mainly to a select pool of black male advocates, while the bulk of government cases was handled by white male advocates. A few lucrative contracts went to a classifiable group of black women advocates.

The majority of advocates, regardless of gender and race, received little or no work.

The group said it also found that a firm's empowerment status was crucial in deciding whether it received government jobs.

Mabunda said: "The majority of law firms did not get work because they are not on the list of service providers or the database of various government departments and state-owned entities. Some law firms are on the database or panel but never receive work."

The group said that in its effort to transform the legal sector, it had been met with resistance from some government departments and companies that were unwilling to divulge from where they got their legal services.

Source: The Times