Deputy Minister John Jeffery: National Symposium of Community Advice Offices

Programme Director
Chairperson and members of the Board of Directors of NADCAO
President and Board Members of ACAOSA
Representatives from various Community Advice Offices
Members of civil society
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

In 1990, a mere four years before our country’s transition to a constitutional democracy, Penuell Maduna, who was later to become Minister of Justice, said that paralegal organisations – “will be part and parcel of the building materials that we will use to construct a new society and develop a new legal system [where they] will help the people understand and protect their rights, freedoms and interests and make justice eventually accessible to the ordinary person.”

These words are very true. Today community advice offices provide services that contribute to social justice and facilitate access to government services for the poor and marginalised.  Community-based paralegals working within these offices provide the support and front-line assistance to many who do not have the means to access other forms of legal services. Over the years, Community Advice Offices (CAOs) have provided much needed services to millions of poor and marginalised South Africans.

Community Advice Offices are small, non-profit organisations that offer free legal and human rights information, advice and services. In addition to rights-based information, CAOs educate communities on how and where to access services offered by government departments and agencies. The uniqueness of CAOs also resides in their ability to form long-term partnerships with governmental departments, social agencies and civil society organisations.

In her article called “Joining forces for the poor” Saranel Benjamin writes about the history of community advice offices and observes that CAOs and paralegals have been part of the social and political landscape in South Africa since the 1930s. The Legal Aid Bureau was set up in Johannesburg in 1937, followed by other organisations offering paralegal services, notably the Black Sash in 1955. She writes that – “The 1980s, marked by an increasingly repressive apartheid regime and escalating political violence, saw an unprecedented growth in the number of CAOs in townships across the country. Working during the dark times of apartheid, paralegals and CAOs provided critical legal, development and welfare advice and assistance to South Africa’s many marginalised and impoverished communities.”

Some of these offices had strong links with the United Democratic Front, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre. It is interesting to note that two Ministers of Justice, Dullah Omar and Penuell Maduna, both worked in CAOs in the years before the dawn of democracy.

It takes a very specific skill-set to be a paralegal.  A paralegal needs to have knowledge of the law and its procedures, has to know about conflict resolution and must be an activist too, with the commitment, attitude and skills to help people and communities with their legal, human rights, administrative, constitutional and developmental problems, while at the same time empowering them. The ambit of a paralegal’s role is a wide one: a paralegal may investigate and refer matters to lawyers or relevant bodies for them to deal with. They can become educators of the law and rights for people in their communities. They can play a leading and supportive role in campaigns for improving community living standards and general community development. They fulfil a very important role in the broader justice system.

On the issue of the broader justice system and access to justice let me say that we many challenges, the most fundamental being how to enhance access to justice given limited resources. Since 1994 there have been many initiatives and interventions to make justice more accessible. From the side of my Department, Justice and Constitutional Development, we have rolled out Small Claims Courts and strengthened the capacity and funding of Legal Aid SA. We have transformed our judiciary, passed many ground-breaking new laws and undertook education and awareness programs to inform people of their human rights. We have built new courts, renovated old ones, and brought the courts closer to the people.  Improving access to justice for all and enhancing the rule of law have been critical priorities for Government and consequently, in the last two decades, specific initiatives were undertaken to extend access to justice – especially to the more rural areas.

Access to justice can be enhanced through increasing support to community-based organisations and by ensuring that constitutional rights are realised. The aim really is to build greater awareness and knowledge of constitutional rights. It is only when people are made aware that they are able to claim their rights that they can actively influence decisions made about their personal and family wellbeing, their communities and their country.

Prof David McQuoid-Mason, writing in 2000, states that - “Paralegal advice offices are a useful adjunct to conventional lawyer-based legal aid service schemes. Access to justice must be considered holistically, and paralegals are in the front line in the field when communities make their first contact with the law. Paralegal advice offices can play a valuable role in screening initial legal complaints and referring potential litigants to lawyer-based services.”

We recognise this very valuable role. At the very heart of our newly promulgated Legal Practice Act lies the desire to ensure that all our people have access to affordable legal services of a high standard. For this reason, section 34(9) of  the LPA provides the new Legal Practice Council must, within two years after the commencement of Chapter 2 of the Act, investigate and make recommendations to the Minister on the statutory recognition of paralegals, taking into account best international practices, the public interest and the interests of the legal profession, with the view to legislative and other interventions in order to improve access to the legal profession and access to justice generally.

This provision was inserted into the Legal Practice Bill by the Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly after representations from paralegal organisations to ensure that provision was made for the finalisation of legislation. As it will still take about three years for the Legal Practice Council to be established, we need to consider whether this is still the best way to go or whether work should not start earlier on legislation relating to paralegals.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Even within a vibrant democracy, if persons have no access to justice or they are unaware of their most fundamental constitutional rights then the aspirations of the Constitution ring hollow. And we still a long way to go in making Constitutional rights a practical reality for people in their day to day lives.

A recent survey by the Foundation for Human Rights concludes that only 46% of South Africans had ever heard of the existence of either the Constitution or its Bill of Rights. The same survey indicates that a mere 10% of people had ever read the Constitution or had it read to them. This makes the work of CAOs and dedicated paralegals all the more important. As Janet Love of the Legal Resources Centre and Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission, says: “There is immense value in Community Advice Offices; their role is profound. They help to advance democracy and are places where people are known and trusted. They have networks, contacts and are best suited to facilitate community consultation, discuss issues of development and encourage public participation.”

Paralegals working in advice centres serve the community by giving people easier access to the law and to social services. An advice centre will assist people with a variety of problems by giving them advice, referring them to an organisation that can help them, or taking up the case on their behalf. The CAO must know about the services available to the community and assist communities in accessing these services. It may also run public education programmes and educational workshops for community organisations and encourage people to resolve disputes through alternative dispute resolution methods such as negotiation and mediation.

It is extremely important that a CAO maintains strong links with the community which it serves and that it creates relationships with other service providers, such as government, other institutions and organisations. And I want to appeal that where there are problems with justice issues, for example, maintenance, or if there is small claims court or the court does not function, or any other justice related matter, that you assist in bringing this to our attention. Government can best serve our people if there is feedback from our communities on the levels of service being provided.

The National Alliance for the Development of Community Advice Offices (NADCAO) was an initiative to strengthen the community advice office sector and broaden access to justice in South Africa. NADCAO was formed in 2005 by an alliance of human rights organisations. Prior to NADCAO, the CAO sector was fragmented and lacked the resources to be declared as a national and provincial stakeholder in providing access to justice for the poor and marginalised. Following a successful and significant 8 years for the community advice office sector, a new organisation ACAOSA (the Association of Community-based Advice Offices of South Africa) has emerged and was officially launched in November last year.

Since 2008, Nadcao has been working to implement a Sector Development Model that would ensure the sustainability of an effective and unified advice office sector in South Africa. The last component of the Sector Development Model has pushed for institutionalising the sector, as a means to maintain the sector’s sustainability and independence. As a result, ACAOSA was formed as a membership organisation that would serve as the national, unified voice to represent the CAO sector.

I am informed that 2014 was the foundational phase for ACAOSA and that Nadcao will continue to work alongside ACAOSA to ensure a smooth transition. It is envisaged that by 2016, ACAOSA will have its structure in place to fully lead and represent the sector and continue to strengthen its institutional capacity.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I wish you all the best for a very successful symposium. It is an important event as it focuses on opportunities and possible mechanisms for government, the private sector and donors to partner with the CAO sector on a number of issues that have been identified as critical to poverty alleviation, access to justice, guaranteeing human rights and improving the living conditions of the most vulnerable groups in our society.

From the side of government, these issues are critical to us too. Our National Development Plan highlights, amongst others, the issues of poverty alleviation, access to justice and measures to improve the lives of all our people.

We need to do this together. Government needs to provide the services to communities and CAOs need to assist communities to access those services. As Saranel Benjamin says, advice offices are essential for realising democracy. They play a primary role in translating human rights as enshrined in the South African Constitution into reality.

I thank you.

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