10 May 2018

Different speakers at a one-day Legal Aid Botswana (LAB) stakeholder forum have called for intensified public education on the operations and provision of legal aid in Botswana.

Speakers observed that many people, especially the indigent, women and children, needed support and legal representation in solving their civil matters, but that they did not have the required and necessary information on the free service which was offered by government in conjunction with the Law Society of Botswana (LSB).

Legal Aid chief executive officer, Mr Peter Brits said the public should be provided with enough information regarding the organ.

Mr Brits said the objectives of the forum were to increase awareness of the mandate of various legal service providers as they relate to poor and vulnerable people in Botswana, map the provision of legal services (type of service, area of law, geographic area and costs) currently available to poor and vulnerable people in Gaborone and surrounding areas and identify any gaps in service provision.

He also said it was to strategise around key issues to the referral of legal services, including provision of legal information, information systems and referral protocols and develop recommendations on a referral system for legal services to poor and vulnerable people.  

Speaking at the same occasion on the topic: “Legal aid and enhancing access to justice in Botswana,” LSB legal officer, Ms Keikantse Phele said many people, especially women and children, needed legal services, more especially that they had been marginalised. 

Ms Phele noted with regret that before the establishment of LAB, many indigent people used to represent themselves.

The LAB and LSB partnership started in 2012 where matters are sent from the law society and LSB disburses them to members.

Most matters that the LSB receive are divorce and proceedings are mainly instituted by females.

Since the partnership, Ms Phele noted that they have been able to solve many matters to the satisfaction of their clients.  

Gaborone Legal Aid Centre manager, Mr Oduetse Langwane said LAB was established through an Act of Parliament and was first piloted from 2011 to 2015 after which it was rolled out to other parts of the country.

Likewise, he said LAB’s key focus areas were to give legal advice, provide public legal education as well as legal representation in deserving cases.

He said the LAB provided USSD and mobile Apps for deserving clients to lodge their matters without having to go to the office, adding that the App was currently in English, but that it would soon be in Setswana.

When deliberating on the legal aid referral mechanism, human rights specialist with UNDP, Ms Joelia Marron noted that it improved access to justice and avoided duplicating as well as reducing the dropout rate where seeking legal support became too hard.

Furthermore, she said the system improved services to clients and reduced the risk of compounding issues as there was follow up and quality assurance.

The forum was aimed at eliciting outcomes such as the production of mapping of legal service provision in Gaborone and surrounding areas and recommendations on key issues relating to the creation of a referral system in Gaborone and surrounding areas. ENDS