PRESIDENT ZUMA DIRECTS GOVERNMENT TO EMPOWER BLACK LAWYERS

President Jacob Zuma has directed the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Adv Michael Masutha, to attend to the concerns raised by members of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) during their protest march today, 14 July 2017, at the Union Buildings.

Amongst the issues raised by the BLA was its dissatisfaction on the lack of representation of black lawyers and women legal practitioners in the State’s briefing patterns and distribution of legal work.

“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 to look into the challenges raised by the association and give me a report.

We also encourage all arms of state and all spheres of government to prioritize and empower black lawyers, particularly women.

The legal fraternity is one of the key sectors that we are targeting as part of our radical socioeconomic transformation programme in order to correct the uneven and unequal racial and gender representation in key sectors of our society and in the economy,” said President Zuma.

Statement issued by Dr Bongani Ngqulunga, The Presidency, 14 July 2017