LEGAL AID CLINIC
Staff:
- Director: Mr. Kruger van der Walt
- 3 Attorneys:
- Stephan van der Merw
- Marion Hattingh
- Koos Geyser
- Candidate Attorneys
- 2 Debt Relief Counsellors
- 1 Paralegal
- 3 Adminstrative staff members
The South African legal system can only be effective if it is accessible and credible in the eyes of the ordinary citizen. The Legal Aid Clinic is ideally situated to extend access to justice to the poorest of the poor.
The Legal Aid Clinic, situated at 44 Banhoek Road, Stellenbosch, operates as a fully-fledged attorneys' office, delivering free legal services to the indigent, whilst at the same time training final year law students and candidate-attorneys in the practical application of the law.
During 2007 the full-time staff of the Clinic grew to 18, which broadened the impact of the Clinic and its services significantly. The Director, three qualified attorneys, eight candidate attorneys (as part of the Department of During 2007 the full-time staff of the Clinic grew to 18, which broadened the impact of the Clinic and its services significantly. The Director, three qualified attorneys, eight candidate attorneys (as part of the Department of Justice's Mentorship Programme), one paralegal and thirty two final year students consult with approximately 3 000 clients per annum. The attorneys and candidate attorneys appear in magistrate's courts in a wide area in the Boland. The Clinic also nurtures a culture of civil responsibility by celebrating Youth Day and Women's Day, and also holding workshops on evictions, debt relief and family violence, special information sessions for the elderly, a counselling project in cooperation with the department of Psychology as well as Financial literacy with the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. The Clinic also provides back-up legal services to the Ceres, Klapmuts and Franschoek Advice Offices.
Indigent people are assisted by staff of the law clinic with a wide variety of civil matters like divorce matters, labour disputes, drafting of contracts, family law and debt relief, to name but a few.
The Legal Aid Clinic has a specialized focus on farm evictions, currently one of the most important legal issues in the Boland region. Right of residence of farm workers on the farms is solely dependant on employment contracts. Bad labour relations often result in dismissals, followed by evition applications. Evictions and consequent homelessness are a real threat to the human rights of farm labourers and their children they become outcasts with little hope of finding homes and protecting their family life.
The sustainability of the above mentioned services is highly dependant on the generosity of funders for whom the promoting of human rights values through access to justice are important.
