Africa-Press – South-Africa. After years of fighting to fulfil their dreams of being admitted as attorneys, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has given two BProc graduates the green light.
Gabaikangwe Thendele and Zwelibanzi Thendele took the Legal Practice Council (LPC) and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services to court after they were told they could not be admitted as attorneys because they did not have LLB degrees. Instead, they have BProc degrees.
Gabaikangwe and Zwelibanzi completed their degrees in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
They finished their practical vocational training contracts – commonly known as articles – and tried to register with the LPC to be admitted as attorneys.
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But the LPC refused to register them and said that as of 1 November 2018, they could not do so with BProc degree. The Legal Practice Act, which governs the legal profession, requires all candidate legal practitioners to hold an LLB degree.
The BProc degree was a four-year undergraduate degree that was offered mainly at historically black universities. It was phased out of the South African education system.
In the early 2000s, 1 177 students graduated with a BProc degree and they have not been able to register as attorneys.
On behalf of the two, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) engaged with the LPC and Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola.
“We received a positive response from the minister recognising this discrimination against our clients and those in a similar position and undertaking to amend the Act to allow qualifying BProc graduates to be admitted as attorneys,” said CALS attorney Thandeka Kathi.
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Zwelibanzi wrote to the LPC in 2019 and was advised to consider approaching the High Court for an order.
During the court hearing last month, the LPC indicated that it would abide by the court’s decision.
In her judgment, Judge Elmarie van der Schyff ruled that people who had BProc degrees were not precluded from registering with the LPC to become attorneys.
She ordered the LPC to register Gabaikangwe and Zwelibanzi’s vocational training contracts.
“It is a relief to have certainty that BProc graduates are not barred from realising their dream to be admitted as attorneys. This judgment takes us a step closer to realising the purpose of the Legal Practice Act to transform the legal profession and ensure it reflects the diversity of our country,” Kathi said.
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