UNIVERSITIES have an important role in ensuring the country has enough lawyers to swell the ranks of magistrates, prosecutors, advocates, judges and other fields of the legal fraternity.
This was according to justice and correctional services minister, Adv Michael Masutha, who spoke at a public lecture on access to justice at the University of Limpopo (UL) last Thursday.
“Institutions such as universities are bound to put in place policies that promote the purport and object of the bill of rights,” Masutha said.
He further said it was a constitutional imperative that the judicial system including courts, legal profession and other institutions within or aligned to the justice sector had the ability, capacity and competence to advance a transformation agenda set by the constitution.
“The ruling government has made significant strides in the past 20 years of democracy to transform the justice system which was characterised by injustice like inequality before the law and the total disregard of the rule of law.
“The Constitutional 17th Amendment Act and the Superior Courts Act which come into operation in August 2013 have brought about significant changes to our judicial system,” he emphasised.
According to Ledile Batsile Mpyatuna, one of the law students attending the lecture: “I hope the minister will ensure everybody has access to legal information.
The department not only wants access to justice for the people, but quality administration of justice.
I have learned to overcome issues such as inequality based on gender or race.
You need to be good at what you do and set yourself high standards that can enable one to compete with the world,” she said.
