New hope for abused women
2003-08-08 20:43
Cape Town - There is a ray of hope for abused indigent women because of an initiative by the Law Society of South Africa to deploy some of its members to various family and maintenance courts across the country.
Cape Law Society members will devote a minimum of 24 hours or three working days to pro bono work to assist such women free of charge.
The initiative would also assist the court with backlogs.
Deputy Minister of Justice Cheryl Gillwald, who visited the Cape Town Family Court on Friday, told journalists it was important that the skills of lawyers be utilised in areas where they were most needed "because we have a wide range of specialist skills and we are very keen to make the best use of these skills.
"So we are very excited because we have a joint team working together on how best to use all the amount of skills to supplement our capacity deficit."
She said she would be interested to have an audit firm monitor how many hours lawyers put in to boost the system.
The president of the Cape Law Society, Taswell Papier, said there were some 3 800 practising lawyers registered in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
This meant a significant number of man-hours would be available.
- SAPA