The Gauteng High Court has set aside Trade Minister Parks Tau’s approval of a Black economic empowerment code covering South Africa’s legal profession and sent the matter back to him for reconsideration.
The court found that Tau had not independently evaluated the measures or explained why they were justified before approving them. It said he must determine whether the code, including its departures from the general Black empowerment rules, was justified before deciding whether to approve it.
Code set sector-specific targets
Promulgated in 2024, the code established sector-specific targets for Black ownership, management and procurement in the legal profession. For large law firms, it required 50% Black ownership within five years, including 25% ownership by Black women.
The legal-sector measures were intended to address longstanding racial imbalances in the profession. Supporters of the code have argued that Black practitioners remain underrepresented in senior leadership, ownership and high-value legal work, even as diversity among junior lawyers has increased.
The challenge was brought by four prominent commercial law firms—Deneys Reitz, previously Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa, Bowmans, Webber Wentzel and Werksmans—together with the trade union Solidarity.
Broader affirmative-action system unaffected
The court did not decide whether the code was constitutional or take a position on its goals for racial transformation. The ruling also does not call into question South Africa’s wider affirmative-action system.
Even so, the decision represents a setback for the South African government’s effort to accelerate racial transformation in the legal profession. The ruling came as policies designed to address the legacy of white-minority rule face political and legal pressure, including criticism from US President Donald Trump.
Solidarity Chief Executive Dirk Hermann described the outcome as “a huge victory over the government’s reckless racial policy.”
A spokesperson for Parks Tau had not immediately responded to a request for comment at the time of the report. The minister must now reconsider the code in line with the court’s findings.
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