President takes black lawyers’ gripes ‘seriously’

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has directed Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha to address concerns raised by members of the Black Lawyers Association, who protested at the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday.

“We take the concerns raised by the Black Lawyers Association very seriously and we genuinely understand their concerns. In this regard, I have directed the Minister of Justice and Correctional Service (Masutha) to look into the challenges raised by the association and give me a report,” Zuma said.

He said the legal fraternity was one of the key sectors that his government was targeting as part of its radical socio-economic transformation programme “in order to correct the uneven and unequal racial and gender representation in key sectors of our society and in the economy”.

The Black Lawyers Association urged Zuma to set up a commission of inquiry into why they are sidelined on lucrative government court cases.

“We demand the following… that the president establishes a judicial commission of inquiry on the root cause of why state departments, state- owned enterprises and municipalities continue to appoint white, male legal practitioners above their black and women counterparts, notwithstanding the presence of legal framework which requires them to prefer women and black legal practitioners,” said Lutendo Sigogo, the association’s president.

Sigogo said there were statistics which proved that “white legal professionals” continued to get the lion’s share of legal briefs from the government.

The protest had been directed at Zuma, he added. – ANA