Motlatso Mabudusha
In an era where the workplace is evolving because of the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital tools, the late anti-apartheid stalwart, Nelson Mandela, would have still shouted out loud the significance of the youth being empowered with all the right traditional skills and education to thrive in life.
As the world celebrated Mandela Day on Wednesday, it is pressing that the legal sector interrogates its position in making sure that young people are furbished with skills development programmes that will armour them against the spreading wave of unemployment and being replaceable by technological jobs.
South Africa’s unemployment rate is the highest in the world, and unemployment among those aged 15-24 was 59.4% at the end of 2023 as the country continues to struggle to create jobs for young people entering the workforce.
In answering the quest of Tata Mandela when he said: “The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation,” the Legal Practice Council (LPC) partnered with the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (Sasseta) from 2021 rolling-out a skills development project to 110 pupils from various bars, including the Johannesburg Society of Advocates, Pretoria Society, Bhisho Society, Mpumalanga Society, KZN Society, Limpopo, Basadi Ba Molao, SA Bar Association, the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa (Pabasa), Cape Bar, Northern Cape Society and North West Bar Association.
Young people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds will always be at the forefront of being prioritised on these projects, as we know that to change poor conditions in their families, these opportunities play a key role.
This skills development project is driven to help learners reach their true potential through a range of skills development programmes and apprenticeship placements; through pairing them with the training provider and programme that best suits their interests and abilities in the legal sector.
With the workplace becoming more and more competitive, key skills issues in the legal and justice sector persist, hence we found it significant for us to encourage spaces where pupils, interns and candidate attorneys can be granted skills that are valuable, and which they can use to secure employment and achieve a great future for themselves.
Reshaping the courtrooms of this country requires candidate attorneys and law pupils of today to be empowered with skills that will make them competitive in this digital era.
Our legacy is one of learning and leadership alongside equity, integrity and respect. In understanding the impact that industry-relevant skills can have, it’s our aim to provide opportunity and prosperity to all.
Since its inception in 2018, the LPC prioritised its mandate of promoting access to the legal profession, in pursuit of a legal profession that broadly reflects the demographics of the Republic. Thus far, some of the successes of the LPC include:
- Establishing and gazetted norms and standards for compulsory training of post qualification and professional development for the admission of legal practitioners, this includes attorneys and advocates. To ensure that training of legal practitioners is standardised and every legal practitioner who wants to be admitted after the coming into effect of the LPA has to attend the training.
- Providing various forms and guidelines for legal practitioners, such as the practical vocational training (PVT) forms, the enrolment process and forms, the tax practitioners registration form, and the conversion forms.
- Conducting regular examinations for legal practitioners and candidate legal practitioners, including advocates’ admission exams, competency-based exams, conveyancing exams, and notary exams.
- Developing and publishing criteria and guidelines for funding of institutions that offer private training including: the curriculum to be applied and used by the accredited institutions, which comprises structural course work approved by council for both attorneys and advocates.
- Publishing the criteria for accreditation of institutions that offer legal education including the Black Lawyers Association Legal Education. Accreditation can be seen as a means of ensuring and protecting the integrity of our legal system.
- Ensuring that library services are available for use by all legal practitioners and candidates legal practitioners nationally.
This project is about empowering beneficiaries to evolve as future leaders of a democratic society by providing training in respect for the law, discipline, civic sense, and building sustainable knowledge and support systems for pupils and candidate attorneys to reach their full potential.
At least 80% of the LPC Sasseta project funding goes to applicants studying in terms of Sasseta scarce and critical skills or the national list of occupations in high demand, while 20% of the target is meant for applications falling outside the priority areas.
In celebrating the life of Tata Mandela, our main goal is to create a conducive environment where all pupils are equally supported. This starts with getting the right skills by being admitted to law schools, obtaining high pass grades and high level training to getting sustainable and long-term employment.
* Mabudusha is the Legal Practice Council’s Mpumalanga provincial director.
Cape Times