Black legal professionals will on Saturday the 22nd of June launch the African Legal Professionals Association (ALPA) which aims to tackle barriers and address challenges and past social injustices in the legal fraternity.
The event will take place at Blue Waters Hotel in Durban where former Judge President of the Western Cape Dividion of the High Court and newly appointed UMkhonto Wesizwe Party Chief Whip, John Hlophe will be a key note speaker.
President Hlophe is known as a vocal proponent of demographic transformation in the South African judiciary.
He has served as the Judge President of the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa from May 2000 until March 2024.
Membership of ALPA will be voluntary and is open to Africans and anyone who
shares its values and agenda within the legal profession.
ALPA Interim Committee and Founding Member Phumla Manzi-Ntshingila said Black legal practitioners face an array of barriers throughout their legal careers.
“These barriers differ during the profession. A shortage of opportunities or few connections to established members of the profession is another challenge. Connections remain largely an important part of having access to lucrative government work. Briefing patterns both at the bar and at firms tend to prefer a smaller selection of black lawyers or advocates. History tells us that the majority of black legal practitioners are still trapped in squalid conditions due to being systematically sidelined from having access to lucrative government work, “she said.
Manzi-Ntshingila believes that ALPA will become part of the solution and will collaborate with the government, relevant departments, the judiciary, and other professional bodies to monitor, protect, and advance the interests of the legal profession and legal professionals.
Currently, she is of the view that those who are supposed to fight for the legal practioners in terms of redressing the imbalances of the past, are serving their interests at the expense of their constituents.