10 Oct 2013

Various civic organisations have hailed the decision by government to establish Legal Aid Botswana to provide state fund to the indigent in the country.

This follows the successful piloting of the legal aid services project that was established in 2009 which is expected to be achieved in the course of 2013/14 financial year, following the recent enactment of the Legal Aid Act and the Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Act.

Programme officer (access to justice) at Ditshwanelo, the Centre for Human Rights, Ms Florah Kedibonye said her organisation had been providing such a service in the past before requesting for legal aid fund from government.

She said because Ditshwanelo had ran short of free legal aid funds, the introduction of the legal aid would alleviate her organisation from the burden of assisting those who were not able to pay for their legal fees.

Ms Kedibonye explained that one of their celebrated cases with the help of the legal aid fund was the recent relocation of the Ranyane residents in the Ghanzi District in which government agreed that the residents would not be relocated without their consent and that government would continue providing them with social amenities.

She said some of the cases they dealt with using the legal aid are those that involve divorce, inheritance and labour disputes. In this regard, Ms Kedibonye explained that Ditshwanelo welcomes the legal aid fund.

She however, advised that the Attorney General, as the master minder behind the project, should spread the gospel of the fund through public education. The Coordinator of Women Against Rape (WAR), a Maun based non-government organisation that supports survivors of rape, abused women and children and the promotion of gender equality, Ms Peggie Ramatshaba said her organisation strongly support the fund.

She said each non-governmental organisation that the Attorney General had asked to partner with, was given P37 000 on a monthly basis during the piloting period. The money was used to pay lawyers as well as administration costs.

She explained that what is left is for government to turn the Act into a law so that every Motswana has access to it. She also called on government to speed up its processes of establishing offices in other regions of the country.

Ms Ramatshaba stated that in the past, her organisation assisted with funding through the European Commission (EC) paying for hired lawyers but, the funds have since been ran out.

The Coordinator said one of their celebrated cases using the legal aid fund is the Maun teacher sex scandal that landed a 14-year-old ex-student into jail in 2011(remember the Voice story “FREED BY A DNA”).  She explained that the case is still before the High Court and she is optimistic that justice will finally take its course in favour of the child mother.

Like other organisations, Emang Basadi Women’s Association Director, Ms Idah Mokereitane ululated at the formation of the Legal Aid fun.

She said law has now been declared a scare skill and therefore, because of lack of funds, NGOs are unable to retain lawyers and have to outsource them. She said Emang Basadi, which came into formal existence in 1986 to lobby against laws that discriminate against women in Botswana, has been campaigning for the establishment of the fund and was the first beneficiary of the fund on the grounds that the organisation has been offering similar services despite financial challenges.

She said before the establishment of the legal aid fund, Emang Basadi has been offering the services only to women and children on affirmative action, looking at the legal component of their cases on the grounds that legal fees were a challenge.

Cases dealt with by Emang Basadi through the legal aid fund range from property disputes, which is one of the hot spots, rape, child maintenance and custody and gender based violence.

Though she could not divulge any celebrated case (s), she said through the legal aid fund, they have made a significant breakthrough in many cases that discriminate against women and children.

BONELA Director, Ndadi Uyapo could not be reached for comment as he was outside the country but, the organisation is known of its stance when it comes to issues of human rights and HIV/AIDS legal representation.

Before the introduction of the Legal Aid fund, BONELA is one of the organisations that complained that Botswana does not have legal aid at national level and BONELA has effectively and diligently provided this service free of charge to its aggrieved clients.

The organisation is credited for winning several case s in which people were being discriminated against for their HIV/AIDS status in the work place. Ends