1. What is your background and what interested you in joining Legal Aid South Africa (Legal Aid SA)?

I am a development planner by training and worked for many years in the NGO movement supporting civic and community organisations in their struggle for a better life for all our people. I also worked as a development activist, organising communities for change and to build a democratic South Africa. In the 1990s I worked in local government and was involved in housing and development issues. Issues of social justice are therefore close to my heart and when the opportunity came up at Legal Aid SA to make a contribution to increasing access to justice to all South Africans, I decided to take it up.

2. What do you see as the role of Legal Aid SA in civil society today?

Legal Aid South Africa is an independent statutory body established by the Legal Aid Act 22 of 1969 as amended. In terms of the Act the purpose of Legal Aid SA is to give legal aid to indigent persons within the budget allocated by the state. We also provide legal representation at state expense in terms of its constitutional obligation under section 35 of the bill of rights and in particular to have a legal practitioner assigned to the detained person at state expense if substantial injustice would otherwise result.

In addition to our statutory aims, Legal Aid SA has identified its own vision, mission and values. Our vision is to contribute to a just South Africa in which the rights enshrined in our Constitution are promoted, respected, defended, protected and fulfilled to ensure justice for all. To realise our aims we strive to be a leading provider of quality legal services, ensuring effective access to justice to the poor and vulnerable in an independent and ethical manner.

3. How would you describe the nature of the relationship between Legal Aid SA and the LRC?

Legal Aid SA in fulfilling its mandate primarily delivers legal services to clients through its own salaried lawyers who are located at 62 Justice Centres across the country. It also delivers legal services to clients by contracting with private lawyers and through co-operation agreements with NGOs and University Law Clinics. It is in this latter category that our relationship with the LRC can be defined. We have a co-operation agreement with the LRC to increase the LRC's capacity to take on in impact matters through which civil and constitutional matters affecting clients and communities can be addressed.

The relationship between Legal Aid SA and LRC is therefore crucial to the delivery of legal services to the poor and indigent in obtaining access to socio-economic rights.

4. How do you see the relationship with the LRC evolving in the future?

The continued relationship between the LRC and Legal Aid SA for the foreseeable future is both necessary and critical to ensure that the state respects, protects, promotes and fulfills the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

The LRC's involvement with Legal Aid SA has allowed us to continue with our important work on behalf of poor and vulnerable communities. Hand in hand, the two organisations have relied on the strengths of each other to deliver on their mandates in favour of the poor and indigent.

In the future we hope that there will be an exchange of skills and expertise between the practitioners of the two organisations so as to maximise our outreach and potential.

5. What has been Legal Aid SA's most significant accomplishment together with LRC?

Legal Aid SA funded the constitutional litigation on behalf of the Treatment Action Campaign to get the government to roll out anti-retrovirals to pregnant mothers who are HIV positive to prevent the transmission of the virus from mother-to-child in all state hospitals. This case is arguably one of the most significant impact cases as it has resulted in preventing the loss of life of a large number of babies who would otherwise have contracted HIV Aids.

The LRC together with Legal Aid SA is at the forefront of litigating the largest and most complex civil litigation on behalf of ex-miners suffering from silicosis as a result of being exposed to dust during mining operations. Whatever the outcome, this case will give clarity to issues around prescription, the provisions of COIDA as well as the responsibility of mining companies to provide safeguards against hazardous mining conditions.

6. What is the biggest obstacle that human rights lawyers face today and how are LRC and Legal Aid SA addressing this?

To attract and retain lawyers committed to human rights litigation continues to be a challenge. Legal NGOs, law clinics and Legal Aid SA cannot match the remuneration packages and working environment offered by the corporate law firms. The Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) for legal professionals has assisted in ameliorating this to some extent.

Maintaining and growing a vibrant civil society movement which can work with the public to make the rights enshrined in our Constitution a reality also continues to be a challenge. The co-operation between civil society organisations therefore becomes critical to strengthening civil society generally.

7. Can you please tell us why in your opinion Legal Aid SA has supported and continues to support the LRC?

The relationship between LRC and Legal Aid SA has a successful track record with regard to impact litigation on behalf of poor communities. The LRC sees clients on a daily basis and through its interaction with civic organisations involved in promoting environmental justice, refugee rights, children and women's rights, it is at the coal face of constitutional litigation to protect the interests of the poor and marginalised communities. Through working with the LRC we are able to give content to our vision which is to contribute to a just South Africa for all in which the rights enshrined in our Constitution are promoted, protected, respected, defended and fulfilled to ensure justice for all.

8. Legal Aid SA has traditionally focused on providing criminal legal defence services but more recently started a civil and constitutional Impact Litigation Unit. Can you please tell us what in your view is the impact of Legal Aid SA's work in the criminal defence area and what you hope will be the impact of its Impact Litigation Unit work?

In the last financial year Legal Aid SA provided legal aid at state expense to 438,000 clients. More than 90% of this was in criminal legal matters. The number of children assisted in criminal matters was 42,087 while representation of children in civil matters totaled 6,196. 89% of the legal representation was done by in-house practitioners at our justice centres across the country.

Legal Aid SA introduced an impact services policy in January 2004. From time to time matters arise in which the opportunity exists for Legal Aid SA to undertake or fund litigation or other legal work which has the potential to positively affect the lives of a far larger number of indigent persons than the person or persons to whom legal services are rendered directly. Legal Aid SA has identified three (3) broad areas in which it can give content to its impact litigation policy:

I. When the opportunity exists to establish a legal precedent, jurisprudence or clarify aspects of the law that will be followed in dealing with indigent persons,
II. Either by class action or by litigation of a small number of matters calculated to bring about the settlement of a much larger group of disputes, the matters have a potential to resolve a large number of disputes or potential disputes, or
III. By the strategic intervention and rendering of non-litigious legal services the potential exists to materially improve the lives of a group or a significant segment of a group.

These legal services could be rendered by salaried legal practitioners employed at our Justice Centres, the Impact Litigation Unit or legal practitioners in private practices or a co-operation partner of Legal Aid SA such as the LRC, a law clinic or any combination of the above.

In future we hope that there will be legal aid practitioners who could be placed with a co-operation partner so that there could be a transfer of skills and expertise in dealing with constitutional impact cases. The impact litigation unit will, as time progresses, take on cases for litigation by the unit itself to advance the impact litigation policy of Legal Aid SA.

9. What do you do to relax during your free time.

I enjoy reading, walking and spending time with my son.