Nawaal Deane
Next week the Johannesburg Bar will decide who gets custody of its library the majority of its members who have fled the city centre to Sandton or the small group who are sticking it out downtown.
It will be the final round of an epic struggle over the future of South Africa’s most important group of advocates. At stake is the survival of the Bar itself, an institution that is supposed to be a unified club of professionals.
Until recently the Bar made all its members work together in the same building, instilling a culture of unity and mentorship. Now, the majority of advocates have left for Sandton, making Johannesburg one of the few cities in the world that has its lawyers situated kilometres away from its court, which is in the heart of central Johannesburg. The Sandton brigade naturally want to take the library with them.
It is now six years since the cracks started appearing. A small group of advocates decided to decamp to the northern suburbs to set up the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (Afsa). Its formation in Sandton was also a way of getting around the Bar rule that advocates must have chambers together near the High Court.
The Bar stuck to its guns for a few years but eventually gave the go-ahead first to the establishment of alternative chambers in Sandton and then the full migration. Now about 500 advocates have moved, leaving about 100 in town.
The split in the Bar has had racial ramifications. Most black advocates are staying in town and many fear they will be marginalised, particularly because most of the senior “silks” have opted to move to the north.
“A principled stand has been taken to remain in town and continue to serve most of our clients and attorneys who are not based in Sandton,” says Rusty Mogagabe, chairperson of the Black Advocates Forum.
The Bar is downplaying the tussle. “There has been no decision that the library will be moved to Sandton,” says Willem van der Linde, SC, chairperson of the Johannesburg Bar Council. A resolution was passed earlier this year that there will be two libraries, he says.
The relocation committee will put forward a number of proposals to the Bar Council on ways to allocate resources into two libraries. “The decision will be made next week on what proposal to accept,” says Van der Linde.
Hilton Epstein, SC, chairperson of the Johannesburg Library Relocation Committee, says: “Everyone needs access to the library. It is the tool of their trade, and there is no reason why those practising in Sandton will have their way over the advocates in town.”
But advocates in town are sceptical that the libraries will be similarly equipped. Ishmael Semenya, SC, scoffs at the idea that the books can be split between two libraries. “Taking just one book to Sandton will follow the logic that the entire library will follow.”
Semenya is part of “The New Group”, one of the few groups of advocates remaining in Innes Chambers, once the hub of the Johannesburg Bar, across the road from the High Court. Regardless of the outcome, this group is committed to staying here. “There is a need to support the previously disadvantaged juniors entering the profession with starting-up costs so high many will find it difficult to start in Sandton,” says a member of the group.