Hon House Chairperson, the democratic breakthrough of 1994 found a country divided into the central white government and nonBantustans. Within the central white government, there were separate African, Indian and coloured local authorities, but separate from white municipalities.
This fragmentation also affected the legal profession. After they were declared independent states, the former Republics of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei enacted their own legislation regulating attorneys. Twenty years into our democracy, these Bantustan laws are still applicable in the areas for which they were enacted. This is a matter of grave concern because South Africa has some of the best legal brains on the continent and in the world. Some of our lawyers, such as Justice Moloto, Fink Haysom and John Dugard have served, and still serve, in international forums. However, for 20 years into our democracy, lawyers have not succeeded to amalgamate the professional organisations and to transform the legal profession in the way that the labour movement did, and ensure that we now have one progressive labour law regime.
The first attempt at transformation of the legal profession was made in 1998, when the 1979 Attorneys Act was amended. This amendment deemed attorneys of the former Bophuthatswana and Venda to be members of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces for the purposes of obtaining indemnity cover under the Attorneys Act's Fidelity Fund certificates.
The amendment granted the Law Society of the Northern Provinces concurrent jurisdiction with the law societies of Bophuthatswana and Venda over disciplinary matters for attorneys in their area. The concurrent jurisdiction has created many challenges:
Firstly, the lack of disciplinary and regulatory control in cases of unprofessional conduct, which were not properly investigated, as well as a lack of co-operation with the law society in investigating disciplinary matters. This has been highlighted in various court cases. Candidate attorneys in the jurisdiction of the Bophuthatswana Law Society were not required to attend the practical legal training course, as the Minister pointed out, which is compulsory under the Act. Also, candidate attorneys of the former Transkei did not enjoy the benefit of practical legal training so that they could claim a reduction in the term of their articles of clerkship.
Secondly, another challenge is that there has been a lot of litigation between the Law Society of Bophuthatswana and the Law Society of the Northern Provinces, because the Law Society of the former Bophuthatswana acted unprofessionally, instead of supervising and ensuring that lawyers did not act unprofessionally.
That law Society also aided and abetted untruthful denials by the practicing lawyers. This unbecoming tale of woe between the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and that of Bophuthatswana created an untenable situation. Therefore, the Bill is very important, because it provides us with an interim measure which will help us to begin real transformation whilst awaiting the full implementation of the Legal Practice Bill. The Bill is also very important because without it the lawyers in the former Bantustans would not be able to practise in other provinces and that would mean that they are disadvantaged within our society.
I think that all the members of the committee, without exception, agreed that it is important that this measure be applied so that it helps us, because the Legal Practice Bill will be implemented in stages. Therefore, by adopting this Bill we make sure that there is smooth and progressive transformation. However, I must also say that we are very happy that the Legal Practice Bill has been signed into law because what has been disturbing to us is that the legal profession itself - very good brains which helped us with formulating the new dispensation - was not able to facilitate the transformation of its own profession. Therefore, we are happy that this measure is supported by all the parties as it will help us close the loopholes as we progressively implement the Legal Practice Bill.
I must say that despite some of the remarks from the left, the Committee of Justice and Correctional Services has men and women who know that they are in that committee to serve the people of South Africa, and they have done that with distinction, without exception. I want to thank you and congratulate you for not betraying the confidence that our people have in us. I thank you very much. [Applause.]