Legal practitioners in Kariega, Eastern Cape, hosted a community outreach engagement on Friday to launch national campaigns educating the public on reporting dishonest attorneys. The initiative addresses growing concerns over accountability in the legal profession, following the disbarring of 57 attorneys since 2018 for misconduct including theft from vulnerable clients. The programme seeks to increase awareness and reporting of such cases.
Concerns over accountability among legal practitioners are mounting in South Africa, with the issue gaining attention in Kariega, Eastern Cape. On Friday, legal practitioners organized a community outreach engagement to spotlight these problems and empower residents.
This event marks the launch of national campaigns aimed at providing the public with knowledge on how to report unscrupulous legal practitioners. The initiative comes in the wake of significant disciplinary actions: 57 attorneys have been disbarred since 2018 for alleged misconduct, including the theft of millions of rands from vulnerable clients.
Legal practitioner Simthandile Myemane highlighted the importance of the programme, stating: “People do not know that there is somewhere to go if money goes missing at the hands of legal practitioners. As a result, when we started doing this engagement where we do public awareness mainly on radio and television, we found a bit of a spike in terms of people coming forward reporting cases and we find that the matters are a bit old. They did not know where to go, but this is helping to bring our services to the people because not everyone listens to the.”
The outreach focuses on protecting citizens from exploitation, with efforts including public awareness through media. By bringing services directly to communities, the campaign addresses barriers that previously prevented reporting, potentially leading to more timely interventions against misconduct.