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The Black Lawyers Association, founded in 1977, a year after the sordid episode of the killing of young students in Soweto on that fateful day, the 16th of June 1976, takes time out to mark for history to remember, that 42 years on, we have not forgotten the sacrifices of our youth in making South Africa humane and better place for all.

We do this because we know that, had the youth of 1976 all over the country not decided that the injustice of apartheid needed them to fight resiliently and with high morale, South Africa would have turned out differently.

There is no doubt that the South Africa of 1976 is totally different from the current state of South Africa, except for one thing, our youth is still called upon by the power of fate to fight a struggle against lack of variety of opportunities in many areas of social endeavour, such as good employment opportunities, lack of skills that visit upon them the disability to fulfil their potential, abuse and narcotics of all sorts and most of all, the greatest social marginalisation in history.

In the legal profession, young people suffer from pertinent exclusions and super exploitation which squeeze out of their reach every opportunity for professional development that can help us build a better legal profession of tomorrow.  These exclusions manifest themselves in underpayment of candidate attorneys and sexual exploitation of the young female lawyers by members of the legal profession who ought to know better.

The Black Lawyers Association, inspired by the great and golden generation of 1976, commits from now on to champion high the plight of young lawyers. We commit to place the young lawyers at the forefront of the struggle for the transformation of the legal profession and the broader society.

More importantly, because we have come to know that great injustice happens whenever the older generation listens less to the voice of the young, who are the heirs to the future, we commit to hear and listen attentively to the real and legitimate demands of young lawyers from all professional persuasions.

To this end, our youth month program is to launch a BLA Youth Forum as a platform to hear and understand better the plight of our young lawyers and with them, to struggle ceaselessly and with renewed vigour for a solution.

We do all this because we pay our debt to the generation of 1976, a gallant generation that braved the bullet and tear gas of the oppressor to shout for the oppressor to know that, if freedom is worth living for, then it must also be worth dying for.

The BLA Youth Forum launch will be held on the 30 June 2018 at Freedom Square Hotel in Kliptown, Soweto and will be published in all media platforms. Our young lawyers must know that the Black Lawyers Association is here to listen to them and help them, through the Youth Forum to chart their own self inspired way forward.   

Issued by Black Lawyers Association