Racism claims against white Pretoria Bar members persist

Reports of last week claiming the Pretoria Bar is on the verge of collapse over racial divisions are revisited by The Sunday Independent. As reported in Legalbrief Today last week (see PSA faces racism allegations in liquidation bid), black advocates are accusing their white colleagues of orchestrating the liquidation of the 120-year-old organisation as a ploy to get rid of them. Three black counsels – former Bar member, Advocate Andrew Masombuka, and two unnamed current members – reportedly told The Sunday Independent the body’s decision to apply for liquidation was an attempt to limit the influence of black lawyers on the Bar. The Pretoria Bar sent shockwaves through the legal fraternity when in a letter to members following a general meeting, the association’s head, Advocate Jannet Gildenhuys, announced it would be filing for liquidation. She cited bankruptcy and partly attributed the decision to Covid-19 related national lockdown. She added that the Bar’s problems were compounded by unpaid fees amounting to more than R8m, owed by current and previous members. However, Masombuka insisted Gildenhuys’ explanation was a smokescreen to reverse transformation, ‘deal with the AFT (Advocates for Transformation)’ and pave the way for a new, white-dominated Bar. ‘The so-called liquidation of the Pretoria Bar is nothing but a ploy to remove blacks in the advocacy profession. The anti-transformation gang will start their own white bar with a few black faces,’ Masombuka said. ‘All of this is because they don’t want AFT.’ Gildenhuys reportedly did not respond to specific questions sent to her. Instead, she said the ‘leading questions’ were ‘based on incorrect factual information and assumptions’. They were also seemingly ‘inspired by or intended to drive a divisive agenda subscribed to by few’.