Quote of the week
Universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational values of our entire constitutional order. The achievement of the franchise has historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood. The universality of the franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it says that everybody counts. In a country of great disparities of wealth and power it declares that whoever we are, whether rich or poor, exalted or disgraced, we all belong to the same democratic South African nation; that our destinies are intertwined in a single interactive polity.
August and Another v Electoral Commission and Others (CCT8/99) [1999] ZACC 3
Calling Cape Town lawyers to do Pro Bono work
ProBono.Org has recently launched an office in Cape Town and they assist the indigent and poor who are unable to afford legal fees when they are in need of legal representation.
ProBono.Org acts as a legal clearinghouse and aims to provide pro bono legal assistance to indigent and marginalised persons through the private legal profession. In doing so, we aim to get Attorneys and Advocates on board to join our panel in order for us to send them instructions and briefs on areas of law which they may be interested in and prefer doing. As such, we are one of the Cape Law Society’s recognised structures, and Attorneys may elect to receive tailored pro bono instructions from only our office instead. ProBono.Org will then track, record and report on pro bono hours to the Cape Law Society directly.
In addition, we aim to hold legal clinics and community workshops staffed by representatives from various firms on different legal issues such as Deceased Estates, Family Law related matters, Consumer Law related matters and Housing matters, to name a few. These legal clinics and community workshops would be hosted at our offices in Cape Town and at other venues such as the Master’s Office, Deeds Office, and various Magistrate’s Courts etc, thereby making access to justice realisable.
Furthermore, we aim to organise legal seminars conducted by Attorneys or Advocates on various legal issues, thereby educating fellow legal professionals on areas of the law that may be unfamiliar to them.
ProBono.Org is recognised by the Cape Law Society, as such, attorneys who are willing to join their panel can elect to receive instructions from their office which will keep a record of hours spent on a matter and this will be directly reported to the Cape Law Society.
Kind regards
Ellen Boriwondo
Legal Intern
ProBono.Org
Suite 200
2nd Floor
57 on Strand
Strand Street
Cape Town
8001
t: 087 806 6070
f: 086 665 6740
ellen@probono.org.za
