Cape Bar under fire for transformation failure

On 17 October, President Jacob Zuma made 17 advocates of the Cape Bar senior counsel – but not one is a black African, and only four of the new silks are people of colour: Ranjan Jaga, Mohamed Salie, Nazreen Bawa and Tanya Golden, according to a Weekend Argus report. It says Justice Minister Michael Masutha has stepped in to make sure the Cape Bar – said to be one of the most untransformed Bars in the country – gets its house in order. The Minister has enlisted the assistance of the Black Lawyers Association and the Advocates for Transformation to address the skewed racial and gender representivity. In correspondence addressed to the Minister, which Weekend Argus says it has seen, 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. 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 majority are white men. Dumisa Ntsebeza, national spokesperson 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. BLA president Lutendo Sigogo described the situation as ‘worrying’, saying the association would not rest until changes were made. ‘We would like to see black Africans appointed to these posts next time.’