Vice Chairperson of the Johannesburg Bar Council, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, Dali Mpofu SC (back row), with the 2016 ProBono.Org Awards Winners.
By Kgomotso Ramotsho
ProBono.Org held their third annual pro bono awards ceremony, on 6 September at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg.
Master of ceremonies, columnist at the Daily Maverick, freelance radio talk show host at 702 and communications officer at Jesuit Refugee Service Southern Africa; Gushwell Brooks; said the awards were a way for the people in the profession to come together, celebrate and acknowledge the pro bono work legal practitioners do. He encouraged the legal profession to give back to society on a sustainable and long term basis.
Mr Gushwell also announced that it was the tenth anniversary of ProBono.org, he said it signified that ProBono.Org has become a permanent fixture in making sure the legal profession continues with pro bono work.
Keynote speaker and Vice Chairperson of the Johannesburg Bar Council, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, firstly congratulated the nominees. He said pro bono work was important, but admitted that it is an area that is neglected.
Mr Mpofu commended the partners and ProBono.Org, who are involved in assisting the poor who have no access to justice. He said in his view, the pro bono system needs to be overhauled.
Vice Chairperson of the Johannesburg Bar Council, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, delivering the keynote address at the third annual ProBong.Org Awards ceremony held on 6 September in Johannesburg.
Mr Mpofu said the biggest problem confronting South Africa (SA) is the issue of historical inequality. He said historic inequality breathes present day injustice and added that any quest for justice that overlooks the historical inequality is doomed to fail, especially in a country such as SA.
Mr Mpofu said pro bono simply means the public good, and said that legal professionals render services to the public at large when doing pro bono work. He said the quest for pro bono practitioners and other legal practitioners is to provide universal access to justice.
Mr Mpofu said some of his acquaintances would often ask why they should waste their time with artificial solutions, such as pro bono and not change society and bring economic equality, so that no one would be in need of pro bono services or why the state should provide for people who do not have access to justice. He said that he sympathised with such views, as the reality is that they have to employ medium and short term solutions to heal SA’s ‘sick’ society, while waiting for the ‘promised land’. He added that the reality is that only a small percentage of SA people can afford even the most basic legal services. He pointed out that in constitutional terms, the issue can be situated in the well-known foundation values, such as equality, rule of law and restoration of human dignity.
Mr Mpofu further said it can specifically be located in ss 34 and 35 of the Constitution, he said although the textual heading given to s 34 of the Constitution read ‘access to courts’ he has always favoured that the issue should be approached as access to justice, at a broader level. He said that access to justice is good for the public, if it discouraged violence and anarchy. It is then in society’s collective interest that all members of the public should prepare court-based solutions to their legal disputes.
Mr Mpofu said the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 (LPA), gives a good starting point for such examination in the point of view of legal practitioners. He quoted the LPA’s preamble that reads, ‘bearing in mind that access to legal services is not a reality for most South Africans; and in order to ensure that the values underpinning the Constitution are embraced and that the rule of law is upheld; to ensure that legal services are accessible.’
Mr Mpofu further referred to s 3: ‘The purpose of the Act is to broaden access to justice by putting various mechanism including putting measures to rendering of community service by candidate legal practitioners and practising legal practitioners.’ He said in his view, any effort to overhaul, revamp or improve the current system of pro bono must include, but not be limited to, an attempt to breathe some life into those provisions of the LPA, bearing in mind that one of its key objectives is access to justice.
Mr Mpofu said if the profession gets the exercise right, it would go a very long way in addressing present frustration experienced by those who cannot wait to see the outbreak of the culture of legal extensions to the poor and economically disadvantaged, who are mostly black people, women and other economically vulnerable groups.
Chairperson of ProBono.Org, Andy Bester, speaking at the third annual ProBono.Org Awards ceremony.
Although Mr Mpofu said he resigned from the National Forum on the Legal Profession (NF) that oversees the transition period of the LPA, he proposed that organisations such as ProBono.Org and others, take a keen and direct interest in how the NF, and its successor, the Legal Practice Council will approach the fulfilment of the promises contained in the LPA. He said s 3 referred to community service, and he suggested that it must include law faculties and law students.
Mr Mpofu stated that it was the most crucial aspect of building a new culture, it must start with the youth, as their minds have not been contaminated by habit. He said if one is involved in community service culture at the entry level of the legal profession, they are more likely to carry it through the days of practice. ‘It is self-evident that to get it right the survival and urgent expansion of the system cannot only rely on voluntarism and public spiritedness of an individual alone,’ he added.
Mr Mpofu said the economic system in SA is characterised by commercialism, self-centeredness and the so-called survival of the fittest. He added that a regulatory framework was needed, and that it must make it impossible and render as unprofessional conduct to go on for years, without having rendered a measurable pro bono service to those in need. He urged that the details of the framework must be discussed as a
matter of urgency by all who are concerned. He pointed out that the LPA, is providing the legal profession with a unique new platform to discuss on such matters. ‘The new rules for membership of the legal profession must specifically cater for righting most of the wrong in the current system of the pro bono services,’ he said.
Mr Mpofu highlighted that correcting the pro bono system can only be done if the legal profession is prepared to take the bitter lessons from the current dispensation. He said the pro bono system currently placed in the advocates’ profession is highly deficient and ineffective. He added that it was an opportunity for the legal profession to use the present foundation to rebuild the pro bono system.
The winners were announced in the following categories:
The winner of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces (LSNP) award, Juvon Prinsloo of Juvon Prinsloo Attorneys, and the President of the LSNP, Anthony Millar.
Chairperson of ProBono.Org, Andy Bester, congratulated the winners. He said ProBono.Org’s duties are to match the needs of people who need pro bono services with skilled practitioners in particular areas. He said practitioners do an important job on a daily basis, dealing with individuals and their particular problems, listening to their stories and accessing what to do with them.
Mr Bester said they deal with people who mostly do not know how the legal process works, he added, however, that pro bono practitioners give their time to listen and also to explain the processes to the public. He said one other function of ProBono.Org was to ensure that people know what to take to the pro bono practitioners, and to ensure that people understand their rights.
Attorney Juvon Prinsloo of Juvon Prinsloo Attorneys, said winning the award so early in her career was an amazing feeling. She said the award will not affect the way she is going to receive her pro bono clients.
She said doing pro bono work brings something special to her firm and in the process of helping people, she is also learning.
Kgomotso Ramotsho Cert Journ (Boston) Cert Photography (Vega) is the news reporter at De Rebus.
This article was first published in De Rebus in 2016 (Oct) DR 10.
