Advocates to do their bit
2002-06-13 20:45
Johannesburg - Several advocates from all over the country - most of them with SC status - will "invade" the higher courts later this month to act, free of charge, as judges in an attempt to work through the massive backlog in criminal appeal cases.
In what a senior spokesperson for the justice department described as "one of the most wonderful examples of how people in this country can join hands for the sake of the broader community", the advocates involved in the project will shut down their practices on a rotating basis between June 24 and July 24 to lend assistance to the courts.
In Johannesburg alone, recent calculations have shown that criminal appeals increased by 170% over the past 12 months when compared to the previous 12 months.
When one takes into account that the volunteers will do no profitable legal work of their own on the days when they will act as judges, this "donation" by the advocates to the criminal law system in the country will be worth hundreds of thousands of rands.