Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, hon Ministers and hon members, the UDM welcomes the purpose of this Bill, which seeks to transform our skewed legal profession. It is skewed to the extent that this piece of legislation is long overdue. We also welcome the establishment of the council. Previously there was a willy-nilly striking of the names of attorneys, especially black attorneys, from the roll until they stood up and fought it by becoming part of the law societies.
The objectives of the council and its functions, amongst other things, deal with the exorbitant fees that are at times charged, which make justice to come at a very high price to the majority of South Africans. Clause 27 seeks to regulate the payment of remuneration, allowances or stipends of candidate legal practitioners. If hon members know how much some of these candidate legal practitioners receive from their principals, you will be astonished. It is just incredible.
However, the UDM has reservations about the conversion of enrolments. For legal practitioners to accept or receive money from clients or members of the public, they need training how to handle such funds. Legal practitioners, who at present are referred to as trust account practitioners, are attorneys who, amongst the requirements to be admitted as such, must have been trained in accounting and passed accounting examinations. This is not the situation with advocates. So, to just convert their enrolment to that of an attorney, only on applying and payment of the fees, without being trained how to handle the funds in the trust accounts, will at times create problems. However, the UDM supports the Bill. [Applause.]