This is how a war of attrition functions. And it’s why winning the case mattered in the first place: because behind every complaint number is a person, and behind every institution is a choice about whether it protects the vulnerable or compounds their suffering.

Abuse by lawyers. Whether it’s litigation abuse or professional misconduct- including fees that almost and sometimes do bankrupt the parties- for those people caught up in a litigious experience, it can feel more like a black hole into which your energy, resources, and time sink.

The complainants- the public, whose interests the LPC is mandated to safeguard- pay the price as the rule of law is perverted, subverted, and thrown to the curb by the very professionals who serve as key drivers on the road to justice. This loop raises an uncomfortable question: should the LPC simply be dissolved? The answer isn’t simple.

This operational paralysis on transformation in the South African legal profession stems directly from a fundamental betrayal of our constitutional values. Where the framers of our democracy envisioned transformation as a dynamic, liberating process to level the playing field and unlock human potential, the regulator has twisted it into a rigid, defensive mechanism used to police numbers while ignoring systemic human suffering.

Judge Madlanga: “Legal ethics is not just about compliance, it is about understanding and making moral judgment.”

To fully understand where the financial priorities of the legal sector reside, we must trace the macro timeline of capital distribution. When the data is laid out plainly, it exposes a staggering imbalance between the resources allocated to insulate the legal profession and the capital that actually reaches the victims of attorney misconduct.

By the time a handful of public matters make it past the Investigating Committee and the internal appeals barrier, the LPC has already consumed over 78% of its actual hearing capacity chasing minor bookkeeping clutter and overdue R2,000 subscription levies from its own members. The entire ecosystem is structurally rigged to protect the profession from the public, rather than the public from the profession.

Unless an attorney commits fraud so spectacular that the LPC is forced to launch a brand-new, expensive application in the High Court to strike them off- finally creating a visible SAFLII record- the practitioner remains insulated by the system's pure, protective inertia. The missing data on the regulatory spreadsheet isn't a technical glitch. It is the mathematical proof of an institution choking on its own red tape while the public pays the price. And that's the real h

According to the LPC’s audited 2024 Annual Financial Statements, the cost of running this bloated apparatus rivals the executive tiers of national government. In 2024, a South African Cabinet Minister tasked with running an entire state portfolio earned a total remuneration package of R2,689,937. By contrast, LPC CEO Charity Ntuza commanded a total package of R3,239,104 (inclusive of a R300,000 travel allowance and benefits), comfortably out-earning the package of the very

But is this stacked deck- lawyers governing lawyers, not a conflict of interest? The challenge facing the LPC is not unique. Many professional regulators are largely governed by members of the professions they oversee. The rationale is straightforward: practitioners, in theory, possess the expertise necessary to understand professional standards and misconduct. Critics, however, have long questioned whether such arrangements amount to setting the fox to guard the proverbial h

But legal ethics matter within that civilization. Because they uphold the rule of law, safeguard clients' rights, and ensure the impartial administration of justice. By enforcing integrity, confidentiality, and accountability, ethical standards prevent abuses of power and preserve the public's essential trust in the entire justice system.

Many lawyers, it seems, have a God-complex- the unshakable belief that they are infallible, supremely powerful, or superior to others. [Spoiler alert: It's a myth]. But this firm belief- that they can extract what they want, from who they want, when they want- is the core of the extraction machine, which delivers systemic injustice through abuse of the legal system.

What will ring true to trauma victims is a more recent observation on Justice. In his work Pensées (Thoughts), French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal found that: "Justice without strength is helpless, strength without justice is tyrannical." Pascal But still, justice is not law, which is the codified set of rules that, in theory, society puts in place to create an orderly society. Technically, these rules set out to serve justice, but the lawmakers are politic

Cicero said, "The worst kind of injustice is to look for profit from injustice." And across centuries, the same warnings of the ancient repeat: justice erodes the moment power learns it can cloak its self-interest in the language of law. And people still seek access to justice, yet sometime find only injustice in the legal system.

I’m an estranged parent and was once a huge Oprah fan. Do I regret letting my kids watch the Oprah show with me? Absolutely! Yet Oprah has a new, again monetized platform on a trendy subject. Would I trust what she has to say? Absolutely not! Those who eventually know better do better.

Finding meaning in suffering seems a little counterproductive. Suffering is what you want release from, yet by finding meaning in it, you hold onto it, putting it at the centre of your life, your identity. Yet finding meaning in suffering can be one of the most cathartic experiences.

Justice, Cicero’s "mistress and queen of all the virtues," now depends on its interpretations, and the interpretation of justice depends on who the interpreter is. Judges and lawyers, the purveyors of justice, are vital cogs in the wheels of justice, and we rely on them to interpret justice- ethically and honestly.

Greed wasn’t a thing when the first group in the hominid species broke away to form the homo sapiens clan, probably about 300-400 thousand years ago. However, AI is creating an increasingly uneven and unbalanced world, one where the greedy thrive at the expense of the generous rest. Our survival is no longer about need- it’s about greed. And there are two distinct sides emerging in the human race. What is Greed? Greed, an insatiable and selfish desire for something, especiall

Medically, being human means possessing the complex biological and genetic makeup of the species Homo sapiens, characterized by a highly developed brain and a unique, complex genome. It's a broad, subjective description, expanded upon by philosophers to include unique capacities such as reason, consciousness, and creativity. These qualities led to the development of language, culture, and complex societies. Yet many non-human species have these same philosophical qualities of

Every single child deserves to be treated with dignity. It's their absolute human right. But as a human who enjoys rights, some duties limit these rights, although these duties only emerge as they age.