17 Mar 2016

Legal Aid Botswana (LAB) recently announced that they will officially open a new office in Kasane. 

This announcement was made at a stakeholder engagement meeting in Mowana Safari Lodge that was graced by the village leadership.

Legal Aid Botswana is a Parastatal organisation that was a pilot project of the Attorney General’s Chambers in 2010. They were officially established in 2013 and have four offices that are operating, one office is in Gaborone, Francistown, Maun (but still housed in Gaborone) and the new office in Kasane. 

Principal legal aid counsel for Francistown branch, Ms Taboka Dambe said “LAB operates like a big law firm which provides legal services to the poor. Our organisation works hand in hand with the private lawyers and even the Law Society of Botswana.’’

Regarding those who benefit from the services of LAB, Ms Dambe said “We currently cover Botswana citizens only. However there are circumstances that qualify people who are not citizens by birth, such as those who have permanent residence in the country and those who have been given the refugee status.”

The Legal Aid Botswana is said to offer services that cover cases in family law, wills, land and contract issues, damage to property, vehicle accidents among others. However there are some cases which the LAB will not be able to help Batswana and those include defamation, adultery, infringement of privacy and criminal cases.

Kgosi Lesoma Lesoma of Lesoma was appreciative of the decision to open an office in the Chobe as he stated that land and labour disputes were common issues he has to deal with and was glad that LAB would help in educating people in understanding the law. 

Chobe council secretary Ms Jeremiah urged LAB to form partnerships with their council legal office for the benefit and better understanding of the people in Chobe. Ends