Parliament - The ACDP urged the ruling party on Wednesday to rewrite the Legal Practice Bill to remove the ministerial power to dissolve the profession's governing council.
African Christian Democratic Party MP Steve Swart said this clause was open to abuse and posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
“The ANC indicated today that it was persisting with ministerial powers to, under certain circumstance, dissolve the Legal Practice Council, a proposed statutory council that will control the day to day functioning of the legal profession,” he said after deliberations in Parliament's portfolio committee on justice.
Swart said the minister could, for example, dissolve the council merely because it was his view that it had failed to sufficiently transform the legal profession.
Although the bill stipulates that before taking such a step, the minister must appoint a retired judge to conduct an investigation into the council and make recommendations to him, these were not binding.
“The ACDP calls on the ANC to reconsider its position on this power which is a serious threat to the independence of the legal profession,” Swart said.
Deliberations on the controversial bill are due to continue on Thursday.
It seeks to replace all existing law societies with a single statutory body.
The legal fraternity has expressed disquiet about this since drafting began more than a decade ago under the first post-apartheid justice minister Dullah Omar, because of its implications for a long history of self-regulation.
Sapa