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Migration Jurisprudence from the South › South Africa

Rafoneke v. Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

Constitutional Court of South Africa · South Africa · 2022-08-02 · National court

Citation: [2022] ZACC 29
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided against the migrant side

Question

May qualified foreign lawyers, such as Lesotho nationals trained in South Africa, be barred from practising because they are not citizens or permanent residents?

What the court decided

Yes. Section 24(2) of the Legal Practice Act was held not to be unfair discrimination.

In plain language

Law graduates from Lesotho and Zimbabwe who studied in South Africa could not be admitted as lawyers because they were not citizens or permanent residents. The Constitutional Court let the rule stand.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Lulusan hukum dari Lesotho dan Zimbabwe yang belajar di Afrika Selatan tidak bisa diangkat sebagai pengacara karena bukan warga negara atau penduduk tetap. MK mempertahankan aturan itu.

Pertanyaan: Bolehkah pengacara asing yang berkualifikasi, seperti warga Lesotho yang dididik di Afrika Selatan, dilarang berpraktik karena bukan warga negara atau penduduk tetap?

What happened afterwards

  • 2022-08-02: Judgment.

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/za-rafoneke-2022/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

For researchers

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