ABSTRACT

In a recent statement by the South African Law Deans Association (SALDA),1 the association identified that socio-economic factors such as the rising levels of fraud, corruption, criminality, social instability and poverty in South Africa affected the way in which law in that country is both studied and practised. The association identified further that the study and practice of law were made more difficult by the pressures under which the justice system had to work – that is, issues around diversity, over burdened court rolls and case backlogs of several years. These pressures have resulted in what some have called a crisis of social justice in South Africa, with a lack of access to justice, poor results in litigation, high costs and long delays as its hallmarks.2