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South African Journal on Human Rights Volume 31, 2015 - Issue 3: Special Issue on Transformation and the Courts
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The Principle of Equality, Legal Aid and Transformative Constitution in South Africa: A Critical Analysis

Serges Djoyou Kamga
Pages 607-630 | Published online: 12 Nov 2018

  • Section 39(1)(a).
  • K Klare ‘Legal Culture and Transformative Constitutionalism’ (1998) 14 SAJHR 146.
  • Legal Aid Act 22 of 1969s 3; see also D McQuoid-Mason ‘Access to Justice in South Africa: Are there Enough Lawyers?’ (2013) 3 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 561, 561.
  • 2013 (11) BCLR 1251 (CC) (Marikana) 1).
  • Legal Aid Act s 3; see also McQuoid-Mason (note 3 above).
  • UN General Assembly res 2200A (XXI), UN doc A/6316 (1966), adopted 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976, art 14(3)(d).
  • Ibid. My emphasis.
  • UN General Assembly res 67/187, UN doc A/67/458 (2012).
  • Ibid para 5.
  • Communication 158/1983, UN doc CCPR/C/OP/2 (1990) (OF) 44.
  • Ibid para 1.1. My emphasis.
  • Ibid para 5.6.
  • See Sarah Joseph's analysis of the OF communication, para A2 <http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:ihrl/2526unhrc84.case.l/law-ihrl-2526unhrc84>.
  • (1990) 12 EHRR 469 (Granger).
  • Ibid para 46. A similar decision was reached in Pakelli v Germany (1983) 6 EHRR 1.
  • (1979) 2 EHRR 305 (Airey).
  • Ibid para 24.
  • OAU doc CAB/LEG/67/3 rev 5, 21 ILM 58 (1982), adopted 27 June 1981, entered into force 21 October 1986.
  • Art 7(1)(c).
  • See The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: ‘Principles and Guidehnes on the Right to Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa’ (2003) <http://www.achpr.org/instruments/principles-guidelines-right-fair-trial/>.
  • Guidelines on Fair Trials para G(a).
  • Ibid para H. My emphasis.
  • Airey (note 16 above) para 24.
  • OF (note 10 above).
  • (2000) AHRLR 48 (ACHPR 2000).
  • Ibid paras 27–29.
  • For more on access to court in South Africa, see G Budlender ‘Access to Courts’ (2004) 121 SALJ 339.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid 342.
  • J Sarkin ‘Promoting Access to Justice in South Africa: Should the Legal Profession have a Voluntary or Mandatory Role in Providing Legal Services to the Poor?’ (2002) 18 SAJHR 630, 643.
  • J Brickhill ‘The Right to a Fair Civil Trial: The Duties of Lawyers and Law Students to Act Pro Bono’ (2005) 21 SAJHR 293.
  • Sections 35(2)(c) & (3)(g).
  • S v Vermaas; S v Du Plessis 1995 (3) SA 292 (CC).
  • [1988] 1 SA 191 (T) (Radebe).
  • Ibid para 196.
  • [1988] 3 SA 795 (N) (Khanyile).
  • For more on this see, D McQuoid-Mason ‘Access to Justice in South Africa’ (1999) 230 (17) Windsor YB Access Just 1.
  • Section 28(1)(h).
  • Legal Aid South Africa The Legal Aid Guide 13 ed (2014) 36.
  • 2002 (2) SA 733 (LCC) (Nkuzi).
  • Ibid para 1.
  • Ibid para 11.
  • Ibid para 11.
  • Ibid para 12.
  • Ibid para 11.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 31.
  • For more on this, see Open Society Foundation for South Africa South Africa Justice Sector and the Rule of Law (2005) 85.
  • Constitution s 35(3)(g). For more on the provision of legal assistance in South Africa, see Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above). This book details the policies and procedures of the LASA in respect of the provision and administration of legal aid. It is produced periodically, and Legal Aid Guide (2014) is the current version.
  • Nkuzi (note 40 above).
  • Legal Aid South Africa Annual Report 2012–2013, 17.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 105 & 106.
  • D McQuoid-Mason ‘The Supply Side: The Role of Lawyers in the Provision of Legal Aid- Some Lessons from South Africa’ in Penal Reform International (ed) Access to Justice in Africa and Beyond - Making the Rule of Law a Reality(2007) 97, 102.
  • Ibid.
  • Legal Aid South Africa Annual Report (note 50 above) 17.
  • D McQuoid-Mason ‘The Delivery of Civil Legal Aid Services in South Africa’ (2000) 24 Fordham Int LJ S111, S121.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 106.
  • D McQuoid-Mason (note 3 above) 561, 567.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 105.
  • Legal Aid Board Annual Report 2003–2004 21.
  • Ibid.
  • D McQuoid-Mason ‘South African Legal Aid in Non Criminal Cases’ in Public Interest Law Institute (ed) Making Legal Aid a Reality-A Resource Book for Policy Makers and Civil Society (2009) 15, 23.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 50 above) 18.
  • Ibid 23.
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 136.
  • Legal Aid South Africa Annual Report 2010 83.
  • See generally National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defence Fund Public Interest Law Round the World (1992).
  • Legal Aid South Africa (note 39 above) 106.
  • Marikana) 1 (note 4 above).
  • [2014] 1 All SA 76 (GNP) (Marikana) 2) paras 11 & 12.
  • Section 84(2)(f).
  • Proclamation 50 of 2012 GG) 35680 (12 September 2012); also Marikana) 1 (note 4 above) para 1; Legal-Aid South Africa v Mzoxolo Magidiwana 2015 (2) SA 568 (SCA) (Marikana) 3) para 4.
  • Marikana) 1 (note 4 above).
  • Marikana) 1 (ibid) para 3; Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 20(2) (see also para 73).
  • This approached was previously used in the National Treasury v Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance 2012 (6) SA 223 (CC) paras 67 & 68; also Legal Aid Board v S [2011] 1 All SA 378 (SCA); for more see C Okpaluba ‘Constraints on Judicial Review of Executive Conduct: The Juridical Link between the Marikana Mineworkers’ Imbroglio and the Gauteng e-Tolling Saga’ (2015) 2 TSAR 286.
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 10.
  • Marikana) 1 (note 4 above) para 3; Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 20(3).
  • Marikana) 1 (ibid) para 4; Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 17.
  • According to s 28(1)(h) of the Constitution, ‘every child has the right… to have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would otherwise result’. As noted earlier, s 35(2)(c) of the Constitution also states that every detained person has the right ‘to have a legal practitioner assigned to [him or her] by the state and at state expense, if substantial injustice would otherwise result, and to be informed of that right promptly’. Section 35(3)(g) provides that ‘[e]very accused person has a right… to have a legal practitioner assigned to [him or her] by the state and at state expense, if substantial injustice would otherwise result and to be informed of this right promptly’.
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 17.
  • Clause 10.2.3.
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 86.
  • Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 100(4) & (5); also Marikana) 3 (note 71 above) para 8.
  • Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 77; also National Treasury v Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance 2012 (6) SA 223 (CC).
  • Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 77.
  • Ibid paras 94 & 98; see Marikana) 3 (note 71 above) para 12.
  • Marikana) 2 (ibid) para 19.
  • Ibid para 98; see also Marikana) 3 (note 71 above) para 12.
  • Marikana) 3 (ibid) para 19.
  • As per the application in Marikana) 3 (note 71 above).
  • The Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013 s 16(2)(a)(i).
  • For example, during the period 1997/1998 only 17 per cent of cases were civil matters and the rest criminal matters (McQuoid-Mason, note 55 above); during the financial period 2009/2010 only 7 per cent of new matters taken on by the LASA were civil cases and 93 per cent criminal matters (Legal Aid South Africa Annual Report 2009–2010 10); in the period of 2011/2012, 11 per cent of resources were allocated to civil matters whereas 89 per cent were allocated to criminal matters (Legal Aid South Africa Report 2011/12); in the period of 2012/2013, only 13 percent of legal aid were allocated to civil matters, and 87 per cent to criminal cases (Legal Aid South Africa Annual Report (note 50 above) 17).
  • Constitution s 39(1)(a).
  • Ibid s 39(2).
  • On the failure of the judiciary to afford legal assistance to the poor, see generally J Dugard ‘Courts and the Poor in South Africa: A Critique of Systemic Judiciary Failure to Advance Transformative Justice’ (2008) 24 SAJHR 214.
  • U Linderfalk On the Interpretation of Treaties-The Modern International Law as Expressed in 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (2007) 96.
  • N Fennelly ‘Legal Interpretation at the European Court of Justice’ (1996) 20 Fordham Int LJ 656.
  • See Budlender (note 27 above).
  • Dugard (note 94 above) 214; also J Dugard & T Roux ‘The Record of the South African Constitutional Court in Providing an Institutional Voice for the Poor: 1995–2004’ in R Gargarella, P Domingo & T Roux (eds) Courts and Social Transformation in New Democracies (2006) 107, 109–11.
  • Budlender (note 27 above) 339.
  • 1995 (3) SA 292 (CC).
  • Ibid para 15.
  • Airey (note 16 above).
  • Granger (note 14 above) para 46.
  • Section 39(1)(a).
  • Section 39(b)(c).
  • Budlender (note 27 above) 342.
  • Investigating Directorate: Serious Economic Offences v Hyundai Motor Distributors 2001 (1) SA 545 (CC) para 21.
  • Nkuzi (note 40 above).
  • Marikana) 1 (note 4 above).
  • Ibid para 10. See also National Treasury v Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance [2012] ZACC 18; 2012 (6) SA 223 (CC); 2012 (11) BCLR 1148 (CC) (National Treasury) para 26.
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 24.
  • Marikana) 1 (note 4 above) para 15.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid para 16.
  • Ibid para 17.
  • C Okpaluba ‘Grappling with the Legal Issues in the Marikana Mineworkers’ Right to State-funded Legal Representation’ JJS(forthcoming).
  • Ibid.
  • 2005 (3) SA 589 (CC); 2005 (4) BCLR para 61. My emphasis
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 37.
  • Ibid para 38.
  • Ibid para 68.
  • Okpaluba (note 116 above).
  • Marikana) 2 (note 69 above) para 69.
  • Okpaluba (note 116 above).
  • Uniform Rules of Court 1959.
  • Ibid rule 40(1)(a).
  • Ibid rule 40(1)(b).
  • Ibid rule 40(2)(a)(b)(c).
  • Dugard (note 94 above) 224.
  • McQuoid-Mason (note 3 above) 561, 569.
  • Dugard (note 94 above) 224.
  • Ibid.
  • Constitution s 6 of Schedule 2.
  • N Strossen ‘Pro Bono Legal Work: For the Good of not Only the Public, but also the Lawyer and the Legal Profession’ (1993) 91 Michigan LR 2122, 2132.
  • V Jaichand ‘LHR Calls on Lawyers to Embark on Pro Bono Work’ (2002) De Rebus 21, 21.
  • Brickhill (note 31 above) 293.
  • DD Burke, GW Mechling & JW Pearce ‘Mandatory Pro Bono: Cui Bono?’ (1996) 25 Stetson LR 983, 987.
  • De Kock v Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry 2005 (12) BCLR 1183 (CC) 11851–1186B as quoted by D Holness ‘Recent Developments in the Provision of Pro Bono Legal Services by Attorneys in South Africa’ (2013) 16 PER 128, 145.
  • Adopted by the Law Society of South Africa on 6 December 2007.
  • Gazetted in GN 740 GG) 38022 (22 September 2014).
  • Para 3.1.2.
  • Legal Practice Act para 29(1)(c).
  • McQuoid-Mason (note 3 above) 561, 569.
  • Holness (note 138 above) 138.
  • See Bowman Gilfillan 2013 <http://bit.ly/YrdRzU>; see also Holness (ibid) 138.
  • P van der Merwe ‘Pro Bono - Attorneys Rolling up Their Sleeves’ (2006) De Rebus 20–1.
  • Holness (note 138 above) 137.
  • LSS Charter para 2.2.2(i).
  • Holness (note 138 above) 154.
  • For more on conflict of interest and pro-bono work, see EF Lardent ‘Positional Conflicts in the Pro Bono Context: Ethical Considerations and Market Forces’ (1999) 67 Fordham LR 2279.

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