Minister fumes over Cape Bar's new silks

Ranjan Jaga is one of the four new silks of colour. Jaga Picture: Supplied

Ranjan Jaga is one of the four new silks of colour. Jaga Picture: Supplied

Published Nov 22, 2015

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Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma has made 17 advocates of the Cape Bar senior counsel - and not one of them is a black African.

Only four of the new “silks” are people of colour: Ranjan Jaga, Mohamed Salie, Nazreen Bawa and Tanya Golden.

The situation has been described as “shameful”.

Now Justice Minister Michael Masutha has stepped in to make sure that the Cape Bar – said to be one of the most untransformed bars in the country – gets its house in order.

Masutha took it upon himself to sort out the issue and called upon Advocates for Transformation, the Black Lawyers Association, and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel).

Nadel declined to be involved because its stance is that the institution of silk should be abolished.

The minister flew to Cape Town to meet the Cape Bar Council, and the Black Lawyers Association and the Advocates for Transformation were brought on board to address the skewed racial and gender representivity.

The entire process has put the white male-dominated Cape Bar under tremendous pressure.

In correspondence addressed to the minister, which Independent Media has in its possession, the Cape Bar said it was giving the matter serious attention.

It has proposed an amendment to silk guidelines to provide for judges’ comments to be invited as part of the process.

President Zuma conferred silk status on the 17 last month, on October 22.

According to the Cape Bar Council’s updated figures, there are 95 silks of whom 86 are men and nine are women, including Bawa, Golden, Janet McCurdie and Michelle Norton.

There is only one black African silk at the Cape Bar, seven coloureds and three Indians. The overwhelming majority are white men.

Cape Bar Council chair John Butler was not prepared to comment, but said the bar council was taking steps to try and address the issue of transformation.

This week, many in the industry were reluctant to speak about the situation, describing it as highly sensitive.

But Dumisa Ntsebeza, national spokesman for Advocates for Transformation, said: “It is shocking that there is not even one black African.”

And it was “a shame” that in this day and age, there were so few female silks, especially black females.

Ntsebeza was critical of the Bar Council, saying that the situation did not reflect well on members.

 He had always believed that the government, the largest consumer of legal services, had a duty to ensure that it had a roster of black advocates who could be briefed and so given the necessary exposure.

Ntsebeza added that the private sector also should give work to black advocates.

If that happened, black advocates would more easily be able to join the ranks of senior counsel and also become candidates for appointment to the judiciary.

 Black Lawyers Association president Lutendo Sigogo described the situation in the Western Cape as “worrying”, saying the association would not rest until changes were made.

 He said he appreciated the intervention from the minister’s office as well as the steps taken by Advocates for Transformation.

Sigogo said the lack of transformation in the Western Cape should not be seen in isolation, saying that it went to the root of skewed briefing patterns.

He was disappointed that the Cape Bar was still dominated by white males.

Nadel’s regional chairman and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Weekend Argus

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