A birth of a school – memories of 25 years

The article ‘From pilot project to more than just a legal education institution’ (2015 (Sept) DR 20) commemorating the 25 years of existence of the school for Legal Practice re-awoke in me memories almost forgotten.

The birth of the school, while a notable achievement, had a forerunner, which germinated the bringing to life of the school some ten to 12 years after the event.

The history of the matter, not generally known, was related by me at the recent Annual General Meeting of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Law Society as follows:

During the mid-1970s, when I was chairman of the Durban Legal Circle, the abysmal pass rates for the attorneys’ admission examinations were a source of serious concern. I, therefore, proposed to my committee that we should initiate a series of informal training sessions/lectures to assist the candidate attorneys in tackling the admission examinations.

It was not difficult to secure the gratuitous services of a group of experienced attorneys as lecturers and the local candidate attorneys association embraced the idea with enthusiasm. The KZN Law Society granted us permission to use the Durban Law Library as a venue (where a group areas permit was not required for persons).

After a year or two there was a noticeable improvement in the pass rate, which was a matter of considerable satisfaction to me personally.

In 1979, I happened to mention these initiatives to one of my partners, the late David Sampson, who was the President-elect of the KZN Law Society and also in line to be the President of the Association of Law Societies. David was enthusiastic about the project and promised to raise it at national level and to promote its further propagation.

As a result, a small pilot project (preceding that mentioned in your article) was arranged at Pretoria University and proved both popular and worthwhile. It was repeated, and later rolled out at all the major universities.

This project was the forerunner of the School for Legal Practice and it was a matter of great satisfaction to observe that from 1989 attendance of the PLT course was made a requirement for admission to practice.

I applaud the good work done by the school and hope that it may continue to play an important part in the new dispensation for the profession.

Michael Hands, executive consultant, Durban

Road Traffic Management Corporation thoroughly misguided

News reports appeared in December 2015 indicating that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), advocate Makhosini Msibi informed journalists that officers would be exercising ‘zero tolerance’ and that motorists would be arrested for the following offences –

• driving without a licence;
• driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs;
• failing to wear a seatbelt;
• using an unroadworthy vehicle;
• using an unregistered vehicle or having • an expired licence disc;
• exceeding the speed limit;
• overtaking on a barrier line;
• driving though a red traffic light;
• not having number plates on each end of the vehicle. (See Enca ‘Road offenders to face jail time: RTMC’ www.enca.com, accessed 5-1-2016 and Justice Project South Africa ‘Why is RTMC threatening people with arrest?’ www.jp-sa.org, accessed 5-1-2016.)

For clarification purposes, the following road traffic offences are offences for which one can be arrested, which appear in the list of nine above:

• Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs having a narcotic effect.
• Exceeding the speed limit by more than 30km/h in an urban area or more than 40km/h outside of an urban area or on a freeway.
• Reckless or negligent driving. Overtaking on a ‘barrier line’ in the face of oncoming traffic, as well as disregarding a red traffic signal could be interpreted to be both, reckless and negligent, but both have admission of guilt fines attached to them.
• Not displayingany number plates on your motor vehicle. Motorcycles and trailers, for example need only display one number plate on the rear of the vehicle.

It is well known in all legal circles that there can be no punishment without a crime (the legal maxim nullum crimen et nulla poene sine lege refers).

While it is clear what traffic authorities are attempting to do – which is, to limit fatalities on South African roads and is imbued with noble intent, it is the principle of how laws are enacted and applied that is important here.

There has been no national legislation enacted for these so-called ‘new’ crimes.

The National Assembly – occupied by 400 members of Parliament – makes national legislation. They are the elected representatives with this function.

Laws are not made overnight by an individual convening a press conference or having a casual telephonic conversation with a journalist. Laws are enacted through due process. Proposed legislation must be debated on, presented, published for public comment and eventually signed by the President into law – none of which took place.

If traffic officers in fact take (or have taken) the views of Mr Msibi seriously and act/acted on them, I believe that the following parties should immediately be sued for wrongful arrest –

• the Road Traffic Management Corporation;
• the applicable municipal metropolitan police department;
• the Minister of Police; and
• the Minister of Transport.

The legal fees of all organs of state will, no doubt, be footed by the taxpayer as will the plentiful payments for restitution that will have to be made to the victims of illegal arrests.

At a time when the South African economy is under enormous strain and service delivery crises are endemic, such a waste of taxpayers’ resources on either side is highly negative for the country, profoundly unfortunate and hopefully will not be required as long as traffic officers do not take the CEO of the RTMC seriously.

Unfortunately, traffic officers are not usually attorneys, advocates, judges or magistrates or any type of legal academic and it is therefore, highly possible, that the reckless comments made by Mr Msibi will be acted on.

Michael Shackleton, attorney, Pretoria

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2016 (Jan/Feb) DR 4.