About BLA Gauteng Province
BLA Gauteng is a branch of the Black Lawyers Association (BLA), a national organisation formed to confront the discrimination that black legal practitioners faced under apartheid. Where the national body sets the direction for transformation across all nine provinces, our branch is where that mission is carried out on the ground here in Gauteng — through membership support, continuing legal education, advocacy on issues affecting our members, and partnership with government, the judiciary and civil society within the province.
Membership is open to every lawyer and aspiring legal practitioner, regardless of race, gender, religion or political conviction. Whether you are a candidate attorney just entering the profession, an advocate building a practice at the Johannesburg or Pretoria Bar, a legal adviser working in corporate Gauteng, or a law student finding your footing, BLA Gauteng exists to support your growth and to make sure your voice is heard within the wider Association.
Our History
The roots of the Black Lawyers Association trace back to 1976, when a small group of black attorneys began organising against the Group Areas Act, the law that barred them from opening legal practices in areas designated for white South Africans. That organising grew into the Black Lawyers Discussion Group in 1977, and later that year into the Black Lawyers Association itself, with Godfrey Pitje leading the first National Executive Committee.
The early BLA fought battles that were as personal as they were political — members like Pitje were fined for refusing to comply with segregated courtroom rules, and lawyers such as V.L.A. Bekwa and O.Z. Tantsi were prosecuted simply for practising without the required permits. By 1985, the Law Society itself had acknowledged the need to support black lawyers, a milestone that reflected years of persistent advocacy.
Three decades on from South Africa's first democratic elections, the BLA has grown from a protest movement into a nationally established, non-profit legal body with a presence in every province. Gauteng holds a particular place in that story: it is home to the Association's national head office, and many of the founding generation practised right here in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Our branch continues that history today, working to ensure the legal profession in Gauteng reflects the transformation the founders fought for.
Be Part of the Transformation
Join BLA Gauteng and help transform the legal profession.
Our Mission
Our mission is to protect and advance the interests of black legal practitioners while building a legal profession — and a broader society — that is genuinely non-racial, non-sexist and democratic. In Gauteng, that means supporting our members' professional development, defending their interests within the profession, and using our position at the centre of the country's legal and economic activity to push for real transformation.
Our Vision
Our vision is a transformed legal profession in which justice, equality and fairness are not aspirations but everyday realities — where the judiciary is independent and accountable, where opportunity in the law is no longer shaped by the inequalities of the past, and where black legal professionals, and particularly women and young practitioners, are fully empowered to lead.