Lamola gets flak over all-male state capture senior counsels

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola has come under sharp criticism from a group of women in the profession over his decision to appoint an all-male team of senior counsels to investigate crimes emanating from the State Capture Commission, and demanded for him to reconstitute the team to include women.

The women demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa must intervene in the matter, and that the president himself must keep his word to meet women in the legal profession and to address their concerns. It’s believed that the fight by the female lawyers could spread to other professions where women were placed behind their male counterparts.

The irate female lawyers, who included advocates and attorneys, said they noted with concern the appointment of only men such as advocates Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Wim Trengove, Ngwako Maenetje and Geoff Budlender to handle cases from the current state capture hearings.

Lamola briefed the four legal eagles to help with the investigation and prosecution of state capture crimes and set aside an amount of about R20 million for their fees for the work.

“We are women in the legal profession and we are not amused by the disregard shown to us by the Minister of the DoJ & CS in the appointment of four senior counsels all men to investigate the State Capture crimes. We demand that the Minister reconstitutes this panel and appoint senior women in line with the adopted policy of gender parity,” the women said in a statement yesterday.

They asked the Minister, whom they believed was committed to transformation, for his leadership on this issue. “We are therefore calling for our Minister of Justice to reverse his decision by reconstituting the panel of four leading senior advocates to include women leaders in the profession and across the country,” they said.

The group requested to meet Lamola and the president urgently on a number of issues that affect women in the legal profession. “This marginalisation of women is inconsistent with the Minister’s own statements and Government’s stated commitment to gender parity,” the group said.

They cited Ramaphosa’s promise during the recent Gender Based Violence Summit to meet with women in the legal profession soon.

“The time is now ripe for the meeting to happen without delay, the priority for this meeting should be reconstituting the panel to support the NPA on the State of Capture issues. The meeting should also address all the issues we have been raising on the briefing of women by the State Attorney and government departments as well as State Owned Enterprises,” they said.

The lawyers said they had enough of being discriminated against. They said there were enough senior female lawyers who could handle case like their male counterparts and even better. If need be they would take to the streets to fight for their rights.

“For 25 years of democracy we have tried to tinker with transforming the legal system and we are not succeeding mainly because government has not played its role. We trusted that the LPA (Legal Practitioners Act) we supported would assist the process. It has become clear to us that it is Government that must demonstrate a firm commitment to the recognition of women as leaders and experts in their fields of practice,” they said.

Black lawyers in general had been complaining about being ignored when it came to briefings by the state. But the women felt even more oppressed because they were further sidelined on gender grounds.

“While we seek to engage our democratic government to act on its promises, we are prepared to engage in mobilising concerted action in the profession and in society in general until some seriousness about women issues is demonstrated. We call upon all structures in the legal profession and society at large to demonstrate, by supporting us, their own commitment to the emancipation and recognition of women as professionals in their own right,” the statement said.

They said while they respected those appointed already, they were equally concerned that some of them were already represented in the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture and therefore could find themselves being defenders and prosecutors at the same time.

“It concerns us that those appointed to lead this state capture prosecution may be representing certain witnesses already in the state capture commission and may thus be seen as representing particular interests in how cases will be prosecuted. This task is too important to be tainted with real or perceived partiality,” they said.

“Accordingly, it is important that the appointment of those tasked with prosecuting state capture culprits are not seen as practitioners that are attached to individuals on either side of the state capture debate. This will help with maintaining the integrity of this important task,” they added

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