24 Feb 2026

Legal Aid Botswana is rolling out a new corporate strategy aimed at improving access to legal services across the country, particularly in remote areas.

Responding to a question by Member of Parliament for Okavango East, Mr Gabatsholwe Disho recently, Assistant Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr Augustine Nyatanga said the strategy titled Re A Ba Latela 2025–2030, sought to bring services closer to the people by ensuring that no citizen was located more than a 150-kilometre radius from a Legal Aid Botswana physical presence.

Mr Nyatanga explained that the initiative was designed to address long-standing challenges faced by residents of rural areas such as Seronga, Shakawe, Gumare, Sehithwa, Hukuntsi, Bobonong and Gudigwa in accessing legal assistance.

He said establishing fully fledged offices in all parts of the country was not financially viable and as a result, the strategy proposed the introduction of smaller service points known as Legal Aid Posts.

“These posts will be manned by paralegals who will provide outreach services and continuous community mobilisation to ensure a sustained Legal Aid Botswana presence and messaging in the targeted areas,” he said.

He added that the officers stationed at the posts would serve not only the host villages but also surrounding settlements, thereby extending the organisation’s reach to more communities. However, he noted that implementation of the expansion plan had been slowed by limited human and financial resources.

“At present we do not have sufficient staff and other resources, and this has forced us to scale back on some of the planned expansion during the NDP 12 process due to budgetary constraints,” he said.

He further acknowledged concerns about the secondment of officers to District Administration Centres and main dikgotla to decentralise services, saying resource limitations remained a key challenge. Despite the setbacks, he said the ministry remained committed to improving access to justice and ensuring that Legal Aid Botswana services reached underserved communities across the country.

Mr Disho had asked the minister to state strategies to make Legal Aid Botswana accessible across the country including to persons in rural areas especially in district service centres such as Seronga, Shakawe, Gumare, Sehithwa, Hukuntsi, Bobonong and Gudigwa.

He had also asked the minister to state why officers from the ministry could not be seconded to District Administration Centres or main Dikgotla in towns and villages to distribute their services including in rural areas. BOPA