Humble greetings Aspiring Jurists and legal practitioners...i have a slight/worrisome concern which i think ought to find expression in this group...Broadly speaking we as People should not only be frequenting Universities to Study the Law amongst as a means of deriving satisfaction from being accorded Titles such as Advocate,Prosecutor,Judge Etc and using legal wits and jargon to outdo each other merely for egotistical satisfaction or to merely to enrich ourselves and to be praised and adulated by those around you from a proffessional perspective as having arrieved or aptly put as having achievedfor if we all still view studying the law as a means of attaining the above then i fear that we are threading down the wrong path...for i believe we should be studying the Law to better understand its functioning and there-after to use it as a tool to Transform our society...Paramount to measuring the effectiveness of the Law is its Accessibility and Knowledgeability by the Citizens of a Country...In South Africa Alone where the Unemployment Rate lingers at an all time high and with more than 40% of our population living under the Poverty line according to Census...how do we expect our people to access the Justice System or to enjoy the rights and privilleges embedded in our constitution when Legal Fees are so expensive???have you ever paused to reflect on the fact that more often than not that the poor and the destitute are the ones who are legally victimised from a Bill of Rights Point of View more often than others?(be it demolition of houses?administrative public action that is unjust?being fired at work or firms without due processes of the Labour Relations Act being followed etc)dont you find it ridiculous that amongst others on a matter that merits the attention of a high Court...you must first seek the services and pay for an Attorney who in return will then brief an Advocate to represent you In the High Court whom you must remunerate as well???is this feasible for a person who earns R3000-R6000 Per Month amongst others taking into consideration the lengthy nature of these proceedings?we wax lyrically about our constitution but how many in our country have benefitted from using it?and last but not least as food for thought as well we have a hybrid legal system dominated by Roman Dutch Law and Anglo-American Law/English Law(little lip service is given to Customary Law)...Statutes and laws that were promulgated by a different breed of people who lived in a completely different era from ours with a vastly different outlook on life hence they were designed for a different purpose...hence these laws are not a reflection of our way of life or material conditions...and yet we expect to transform peoples lives with these self-same laws?i rest my case.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 05:55:43 +0000
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