MORE SOUTH AFRICANS ARE NOW ACCESSING JUSTICE –
THE LEGAL AID BOARD ANNUAL RESULTS 2007/08
To ensure that the Legal Aid Board remains relevant and responsive to the industry in which it operates, the journey towards developing its Strategic Plan for the period 2009-2012 is on track, said Judge Dunstan Mlambo, Board Chairperson at the Legal Aid Board National Stakeholder Forum held in Joburg. The aim of the forum was to afford Legal Aid Board stakeholders an opportunity to have an input on the draft Strategic Plan.
In presenting the Strategic Plan for discussion by stakeholders Judge Mlambo stated that “Providing clients and community with increased access to independent legal services in both criminal and civil matters is our key objective aiming to improve access beyond the court systems, particularly in rural areas. Developing employee and organisational capacity by expanding the national footprint and developing appropriate competencies will not only ensure quality legal services but also development of staff,” said Judge Mlambo.
Judge Mlambo outlined the major strategic thrust of the next period, as covered in the Strategic Plan, as follows: “having built up the Legal Aid Board as a high performing organisation which touches the lives of hundreds of thousands of South African thus assisting them in accessing justice, our strategic direction for the next period will focus on new ways of expanding the service to extend our reach to many more South Africans as well continuing to enhance the quality of the legal services we offer.”
“This is the difference that the Legal Aid Board makes to the lives of thousands of South Africans, “ said Ms Vidhu Vedalankar, Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Aid Board. Adding to what the chairperson has said, Vedalankar outlined the performance of the Legal Aid Board “Ensuring that our primary mandate is undertaken within the ambit of good governance and sound financial management, the Legal Aid Board is pleased to report on the following achievements:
- The primary measure of success for the Legal Aid Board is the number of people that have been able to access justice as a result of legal aid services. We can therefore attest to our high performance by reporting that we have assisted more people this year through the 396,068 new legal matters that we have taken on as well as 399,738 legal matters we finalized, an increase of 10% in the number of new matters compared to the previous year. The number of children we have assisted increased to 48,283.
- Having set high standards in the previous financial years, we have effectively taken on the mantle entrusted to us and ensured that we cover all the criminal courts in the country through our in-house lawyers from our local Justice Centres (89%) as well as through our partners in Judicare (10%) and Co-operation Agreements (1%). This mixed model delivery system has served us well and continues to produce the results we require.
- This was achieved through Legal Aid Board’s national footprint of 108 points of delivery across the country. This includes the opening of a new justice centre and eight (8) satellite offices, taking the number of justice centres to 59 while satellite offices increased to 49.
- A total complement of 1,673 legal staff (of 2,197 staff), at recruitment level of 93%, ensures that the Legal Aid Board practitioners are present in all criminal courts in this country. We however require additional funding to improve the number of practitioners per court.
- In the 2007/08 year the Legal Aid Board budget grew by 23% to R652 million. With regard to financial management and good governance, we are proud to have maintained our unqualified audit record for the seventh consecutive year. In addition, we have also maintained, for the third consecutive year, no emphasis of matters from the Auditor-General.
As we look into 2008/09 financial year, we commit to taking performance to higher levels and continuing to improve quality of legal services delivered. Furthermore, we will continue to improve internal systems, recruit and retain highly skilled personnel and ensure that we maintain our unqualified audit record.” Vedalankar concluded.