Deputy Minister Andries Nel: National General Meeting of the Black Lawyers Association

Address by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the National General Meeting of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA), Gqeberha

Good morning, President, leadership and members of BLA, panellists, guests, comrades and friends. I stand on the protocol established by the programme director.

The Secretary General stated that he did not see me being accompanied by any bodyguards. He is wrong. I am joined here today by Mr Felix Mbeki, the Acting Solicitor General and Ms Mpho Seotlela. They are ready to take any bullets that you fire at me regarding state briefing patterns. I am happy that you introduced them so that there is no confusion as to where friendly, or un-friendly, fire should be directed.

We convey the warm regards of Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. The Minister is attending the funeral of the late Comrade Lungi Gqabashe, the Deputy President of the ANC Women’s League.

As we were mourning her we also learned with sadness of the passing of Isithwalandwe / Seaparankoe Gertrude Shope a lifelong revolutionary, a leader of profound discipline, courage, and humility who played a pivotal role in shaping the political direction of our movement and the emancipation of women in South Africa and beyond.

I ask that we rise and observe a moment of silence in their honour. I request that we remain standing as we recite the preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa:

“We, the people of South Africa,
Recognise the injustices of our past;
Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land;
Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and
Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as
the supreme law of the Republic so as to:
• Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
• Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
• Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and
• Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.
May God protect our people.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso.
God seën Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa.
Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa Afrika.”

I believe that we should “normalise” this practice of reciting the preamble of the Constitution - as those who are younger than I would say on social media. The preamble to our Constitution captures the essence of who we are as a nation, and the kind of society that we seek to be and, indeed, must become.

When we proclaim, as we have just done, that we seek to build a democratic and open society in which every citizen is equally protected by law, every citizen must include the include the poorest of the poor.

Similarly, when we proclaim that we are committed to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person this must include freeing the potential of the many young, black and female law graduates who are unemployed, or underemployed.

On 27 April this year, we celebrated Freedom Day under the theme: United in Resilience for the Defence of Our Freedom and Democracy. It was, and remains, regrettably, an appropriate theme given the very adverse international and domestic conjuncture that we find ourselves in. We see dark clouds of conflict, tension, intolerance, authoritarianism gathering all over
the world.

Increasingly lightning flashes of aggression from these clouds are being directed at South Africa, a country committed to nothing more than occupying our “rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations”.

In the worlds of the Freedom Charter, adopted 70 years ago on 26 June 1955: There shall be peace and friendship. South Africa shall be a fully independent state which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations; South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation – not war.

Our freedom and democracy were not attained without struggle and sacrifice, neither will their continued existence be guaranteed without our collective commitment and effort, united in our diversity.

We say: “Asinamona, asinanzondo, siyayidumisa iMzans ‘Afrika!” But we also say, as President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the State of the Nation Address: “We will not be bullied!”

We commend Team South Africa, led by our President, for the united and dignified manner in which they represented our national interest earlier this week during their meeting at the White House.

We must remain United in Resilience for the Defence of Our Freedom and Democracy.

In this regard organisations such as the Black Lawyers Association (BLA), the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel), and the Advocates for Transformation (AFT), and indeed the entire organised legal profession have a vital role to play.

We recall the words of President Nelson Mandela on the occasion of the inauguration of the Constitutional Court on 14 February 1995:

“People come and people go. Customs, fashions, and preferences change. Yet the web of fundamental rights and justice which a nation proclaims, must not be broken. It is the task of this court to ensure that the values of freedom and equality which underlie our interim constitution - and which will surely be embodied in our final constitution - are nurtured and protected so that they may endure. We expect you to stand on guard not only against direct assault on the principles of the constitution, but against insidious corrosion. Attacks on the basic rights of the people are invariably couched in innocent language. We do pledge that the new Government of National Unity will never be party to the subterfuges of the past which put a humane gloss over the most iniquitous denials of our rights.”

Collectively, we must work in unity to ensure that the new, new Government of National Unity remains true to this pledge. But this requires the combined efforts of government, labour, business, and civil society.

I would be remiss if I did not raise that fact that on 6 June 2025 we mark the 30th anniversary of one of the Constitutional Courts first judgments – S v Makwanyane that declared the death penalty to unconstitutional on the basis that in constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

We call upon BLA and all progressive organisations to commemorate this day. The Constitution enjoins all of us to “Heal the divisions of the past”. This must include the divisions in the legal profession.

For those who are in any doubt regarding the existence these divisions they need look no further than the history and reasons for the formation of BLA in 1977, and the cases of Godfrey Pitje who was sentenced for refusing to sit at a desk for “non-whites” whilst representing a client in court, and former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke who was found not be a fit and proper person by the Law Society on the basis of his conviction for sabotage and that he ceased to be a South African citizen by reasons the Status of Bophuthatswana Act.

I would like to focus on two distinct, yet highly inter-related interventions by the democratic state. The first, in respect of the manner in which the State manages litigation and legal services. The second, in respect of transforming private legal services.

In 2014, the State Attorney Act was amended to create the position of Solicitor General in order to be the executive officer of all offices of State Attorney and to exercise control, direction and supervision over all offices of State Attorney.

The Solicitor General does so, amongst others, by standards and directives that must be observed by all persons appointed in the offices of State Attorney. The following six policies have been approved by Cabinet:
1) The Alternative Dispute Resolution State Mediation Policy.
2) The Briefing and Outsourcing of State Legal Work Policy.
3) The Policy on Management of State Litigation Contingent Liability Policy
4) The State Legal Representation Policy.
5) The Management of State Litigation Policy; as well as
6) The Initiating, Defending and Opposing of Matters on Behalf of the State Policy.

Today I will focus on the Briefing and Outsourcing of State Legal Work Policy. The policy seeks to transform the legal sector in order to give effect to the objectives of the Constitution, and to promote effective and sustainable economic participation of all in the economy of the country in general, and the legal profession in particular. In transforming the Legal Profession, the Department is mindful of the importance that we do not leave women and young practitioners behind.

These are the briefing statistics as provided by the Office of the Solicitor-General for the past 5 financial years:

Value of Briefs Issued

Value of briefs to PDI's for the financial year of 2024/2025 is 88% in which R1 275 518 164.10 was paid to all legal practitioners and R1 123 166 531.56 was paid to PDIs (previously disadvantaged legal practitioners).

For the financial year 2025/2026 we have added an indicator that will talk specifically to the briefing patterns in relation to the youth. The Department is acutely aware of the outcry that lucrative State work still goes to the big 5 law firms. This issue is receiving focussed attention. In this regard, the Legal Sector Code (LSC) which aims to transform the legal profession to ensure meaningful participation of black people in the economy, particularly in the legal sector.

The objective is to create a sustainable and inclusive legal profession, addressing the unique features of the legal industry through targeted policies and frameworks. The Code is designed to bring about meaningful change by focusing on several key areas, including:

• Ownership and Management Transformation
• Skills Development
• Supplier and Enterprise Development
• Legal Sector Transformation Fund (LSTF)

An important feature of the Code is the establishment of the Legal Sector Transformation Fund, aimed at providing financial support to black legal practitioners and promoting transformation across the sector. The Code introduces specific turnover thresholds to classify legal practices based on their annual revenue, which determines their B-BBEE compliance requirements. Law firms with an annual revenue of up to R5 million (for attorneys) and R3 million (for advocates) are considered Exempted Legal Enterprises (ELEs).

These firms are exempt from full B-BBEE measurement and only need to submit a sworn affidavit confirming their revenue and black ownership status. Law firms with an annual revenue above R5 million but not exceeding R25 million, and advocates earning between R3 million and R15 million, are classified as Qualifying Small Enterprises (QSEs). QSEs are subject to B-BBEE measurement but benefit from simplified scorecards and requirements.

Firms with revenue exceeding R25 million (for law firms) or R15 million (for advocates) are considered large entities and are required to comply fully with all elements of the LSC scorecard, including ownership, management control, skills development, and enterprise and supplier development.

These new thresholds ensure that smaller legal entities can comply without undue burden, while larger firms are expected to play a more significant role in driving transformation in the sector. The legal sector code is currently challenged in court by Norton Rose Fulbright attorneys and the following intervening parties joined in support of Norton rose: Bowman Gilfilan Incoporated, Webber Wenzel, Werksmans Incorporated, and AfriForum.

The following parties have joined in as respondents to support the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC): Advocates for transformation, African Legal Professionals Association, Basadi ba Molao Education and Trading Services, Black Conveyancers Association, Black Lawyers Association, General Counsel of the Bar South Africa, National Association of Democratic Lawyers, Pan-African Bar Association of South Africa, South African Woman Lawyers Association. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition answering affidavit must be filed in court by 30 June 2025.

However, transformation cannot be the exclusive responsibility and preserve of the State. To quote President John F Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

In terms of section 29 of the Act the Minister must, after consultation with the Legal Practice Council, prescribe requirements for community service from a date to be determined by the Minister. Such requirements may include community services as a component of practical vocational training by candidate legal practitioners, or a minimum period of recurring community service by practising legal practitioners upon which continued enrolment as a legal practitioner is depended.

Community service, may include service:

• In the State;
• At the SAHRC;
• As a judicial officer or a commissioner for small claims, both without remuneration;
• Legal education and training on behalf of the Legal Practice Council or on behalf of an academic institution or non- governmental organisation;
• Any other service which the candidate legal practitioner may want to perform with the approval of the Minister

The Council may on application and on good cause shown, exempt any candidate legal practitioner or legal practitioner from performing community service. The Department is currently consulting with the Legal Practice Council on the draft regulations for the rendering of community service. We call upon BLA to be at the forefront of supporting community service. We also encourage members of the profession, and BLA in particular, to come forward and serve as Commissioners for Small Claims Courts.

This is perhaps one of the most important and satisfying ways in serving your community on a voluntary basis, free of charge and most often to those that do not have the financial means. It is also one of the community services provided for in the Legal Practice Act.

The Department is currently considering a possible increase in the jurisdiction amount of R20 000 and BLA will also be consulted in this regard. We also urge members of BLA is also encouraged to assist community advice offices in their areas.

The Legal Practice Act provides a framework for the transformation and restructuring of the legal profession in line with the values and injunctions of our Constitution. The Act was assented to by the President on 20 Sept 2014 and commenced on 1 Nov 2018.

I would like to conclude by commending BLA for the theme of this meeting: “The Practice of Law in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Some might argue that spending time discussing this matter is irrelevant and a distraction when many of our courts struggle with basics such as network connectivity, email, and malfunctioning transcription machines.

However, this morning’s very informative AI Breakfast Colloquium should leave no one in doubt that the future is rapidly becoming the present. I do not propose to traverse the ground that so well covered by the panellists. However, I would like to deposit a few ideas regarding the convergence of artificial intelligence, data analytics and quantum computing.

Justin Joque writes in his book, “Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism” (Verso, 2023):
“…the use of statistics transforms massive stores of digitized data into actionable information for human and computer consumption. This information is used to trade stocks, adjust prisoners’ sentences, grant or deny credit and infer scientific facts.

Computers today can do and understand things that only ten years ago seemed like science fiction. Even without the realization of full “artificial intelligence,” machines are nonetheless astoundingly capacious. But at the same time these technologies allow those who own and operate them more and more freedom and insight, the political and social order is increasingly subject to the constraints of a closely managed global neoliberalism—even if it is an inefficient one, full of explosive contradictions.

Everywhere — according to various national, gendered, classed and raced positionalities — populations are surveilled and tracked, their perceptions and politics managed through highly individualized advertising and information selection.” The RAND Corporation – the research and development think tank linked to the US defence and security establishment recently published a paper on: The Quantum Age and Its Impacts on the Civil Justice System.”

The RAND Corporation played an instrumental work in guiding US strategy during the Cold War. The fact that such an organisation has paid attention to this matter is significant in itself.

I quote a section from the paper:

“For the past half-century, computer processing power has doubled roughly every 24 months. As transistors—the basic elements of digital computers—become smaller, they also become faster, more efficient, and more resilient. Coupled with accelerating innovations in algorithms, software, business models, and marketing strategies, these exponential improvements have created opportunities for new devices and applications.

Engineers are now at the point where they cannot make transistors any smaller without fundamentally changing the way they physically operate. As a result, the major players in digital computing are now looking toward the next big innovation that may fuel yet another era of exponential growth in technological capabilities and opportunities: quantum computing.

There are three specific domains in which quantum computing will be particularly relevant to the civil justice system: cryptography, liability and insurance, and privacy.

Cryptography
Law firms, insurers, and courts all rely on encryption to protect sensitive data on clients, litigants, medical records, and privileged communications. This reliance on encryption matters both when they store the data on servers, cloud services, mobile devices, laptops, and desktops and when they transmit the data over wired and wireless networks, including the internet and email. Quantum technologies that can break this encryption represent a particular threat to the ability of the civil justice system to protect sensitive data as required by professional norms, laws, and legal ethics.

Liability and Insurance
The fact that quantum computers are more error-prone than digital computers presents significant difficulties. The separation between quantum components and digital components of computing systems will compound the difficulty of assigning fault to different parts of the systems and different manufacturers.

The fact that we cannot peek into the quantum process itself, and the fact that the process is difficult to understand and explain, may make discussions about liability for the inevitable errors in quantum computing very challenging. The error-prone nature of computations performed by quantum computers will also likely increase demand for novel insurance products.

Entities that rely on quantum computers to perform critical tasks will seek to mitigate the consequences of such errors. While the age of quantum computing is not yet upon us, the insurance industry should begin developing the kinds of new insurance products that will be needed when this age arrives. This will require a careful understanding of the relevant risks.

Quantum computing will also allow insurance companies to improve how they perform risk assessments. Because quantum computers will be able to process vast amounts of data nearly instantaneously, the algorithms used by insurance underwriters today may seem rudimentary, unsophisticated, and uncomprehensive in comparison to those enabled by quantum computing and potentially used by insurance underwriters of the future.

Privacy
Quantum computing has the potential to significantly improve AI systems and the ability to search large datasets for patterns and correlations. There are four overarching privacy implications related to quantum-based AI systems: the de-identification of data, the right to be forgotten, the fair use of information, and the transparency of decisions based on private data. These implications will challenge compliance with existing U.S. and international privacy laws, including the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.”

Lastly, I quote from an article by Ian Bremmer in the US journal, Foreign Affairs (13 May 2025) titled: “The Technopolar Paradox: The Frightening Fusion of Tech Power and State Power.”

Bremmer argues that the world has entered a “technopolar” epoch which he describes as follows:

“For most of this time, the structure of that [world] order could be described as unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar, depending on how power was distributed among countries. The world, however, has since entered a “technopolar moment,” a term I used in Foreign Affairs in 2021 to describe an emerging order in which “a handful of large technology companies rival [states] for geopolitical influence.” Major tech firms have become powerful geopolitical actors, exercising a form of sovereignty over digital space and, increasingly, the physical world that potentially rivals that of states.”

We call upon progressive organisations such as BLA, Nadel and AFT to continue providing thought leadership on these important matters. Tomorrow, 25 May, we celebrate Africa Day. The AU theme for 2025 is: “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations.”

This initiative underscores the AU's commitment to addressing historical injustices, including the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, apartheid, and genocide. It builds on decades of advocacy and collaboration, aiming to foster unity and establish mechanisms for reparatory justice on a global scale. We call upon BLA to play an active role in promoting this this theme. I conclude with the words of President Nelson Mandela at the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) meeting of Heads of State and Government in Tunis – Libya on 13 June 1994:

“The titanic effort that has brought liberation to South Africa, and ensured the total liberation of Africa, constitutes an act of redemption for the black people of the world. It is a gift of emancipation also to those who, because they were white, imposed on themselves the heavy burden of assuming the mantle of rulers of all humanity. It says to all who will listen and understand that, by ending the apartheid barbarity that was the offspring of European colonisation, Africa has, once more, contributed to the advance of human civilisation and further expanded the frontiers of liberty everywhere.”

We wish this BLA National General Meeting well in its important deliberations.

Amandla!

I thank you.

#GovZAUpdates