Pretoria - Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has called on South African women in the legal fraternity to use the law as a weapon against all forms of injustice in the country.
Sisulu was addressing the annual Law Society of the Northern Provinces Women’s Conference, which is aimed at promoting women in the legal profession.
“We depend on you to use the law as a tool to dig up the roots of injustice from all corners of our country.
“You must use the law as a weapon against all forms of injustice in all spheres of life in our country in whatever form that it manifests itself.”
Sisulu said she was pained by the scourge of domestic abuse and rape, to which many women are subjected.
“In your hands, the law must be our liberator as women, not an instrument of oppression. It must also not be used to shackle our bodies and our minds by its insistence on precedent and tradition, when the circumstances of today demand change,” she told the delegates.
Sisulu further called on women in the legal fraternity to be part of the discourse in the public space on issues that affect all South Africans.
She said many events in the country directly and negatively affected women, “yet the fight for justice for those involved is mostly led and driven by male lawyers”.
“Where are the women lawyers when they should be at the forefront?” she asked.
She urged them to take part in public conversations on important issues in order to help transform society. – SAnews.gov.za
