ACCORDING TO AFRICAN FOLKLORE the original baobab boasted about its beauty and was turned upside down by the gods, as punishment for its vanity and its arrogance. It is therefore also known, in Africa, as the upside down tree. The fruit and pulp of the transformed baobab has provided nutrition to Africans for generations. Many people believe that spirits of the baobab tree protect their villages.
There has recently been much debate regarding the formal legal system in South Africa. The transformation debate has focused primarily on the gender and racial composition of the judiciary. In considering transformation it is however also important to consider whether the formal legal system in South Africa adequately serves the needs of consumers of legal services? We submit that it does not. Primarily because the legal profession, the judiciary, the courts and the law remain inaccessible to most people. The formal legal system, as it stands, is a luxury used primarily by corporations, the rich, special interest groups and the powerful to protect their vested interests.
We aim to make a contribution to changing the current state of affairs by improving access to the law and to lawyers in South Africa. In doing so the playing field will, with time, be leveled between: rich and poor, big and small, powerful and less powerful, educated and less educated, honest and dishonest, honourable and dishonourable, corporations and consumers, government and citizens, big business and small business and the different class structures in South Africa. We hope to contribute to people's ability to develop themselves to their maximum potential, without undue and unfair obstacles. We also hope to assist people in holding leaders accountable and protecting themselves against abuse, of any kind, by others.
Our economic success in South Africa depends heavily on the development and success of small and medium enterprises. We hope that we can contribute to the success of these pioneering businesses, and to the entrepreneurs driving them, by assisting them in exploiting their opportunities, enforcing their rights and mitigating their legal, contractual, regulatory, tax and compliance risks. So that they can continue to grow and employ people, thereby contributing to the reduction of poverty and the resultant disease and crime.
May the formal legal system too be uprooted and transformed, so that it can provide comfort, protection, and justice to the broader community it is supposed to serve.