From time to time, there are unexpected instances that jolt us out of a sense of complacency and force us to question the routine ways of being. At times, these instances help us realise how off the track we have been on the path we have chosen as a nation.
The decision by Pretoria High Court Judge Mandlenkosi Motha to ask an “all-white group of lawyers to explain why there is not a single black lawyer among them” is a case in point.
The fact that the case was about affirmative action, one would have thought that common sense would prevail. Affirmative action is, after all, a deliberate policy intervention that seeks to address groups that have been historically marginalised and under-represented groups in leadership and various professions. Africans will invariably be the main beneficiaries.
Judge Motha
