University-based law clinics offer law students a unique opportunity to gain practical legal training through service learning and work-integrated learning. These clinics also provide free legal services to needy and marginalised members of the community who cannot afford the services of a private legal practitioner.
These law clinics engage with communities by informing them of their rights and enabling them to use the law to enforce their rights rather than taking the law into their own hands.
Recognising this need, the North-West University’s (NWU’s) satellite law clinic in Mpumalanga – the Mpumalanga Access to Justice Cluster – is going from strength to strength, offering invaluable assistance to those in need.
This satellite clinic is one of three at the NWU. The Mahikeng Law Clinic was established in the late 1980s and is headed by director Simon Rasikhalela. The Potchefstroom Law Clinic, headed by director Chrisna Nicholson, was established in the early 1980’s. The Mpumalanga clinic – the NWU’s first satellite branch and a project of the Potchefstroom Law Clinic, has been operating since 2004 and is also headed by Chrisna.
The satellite office consists of eight staff members, including the director who is based in Potchefstroom, a project manager, a legal practitioner, a paralegal, two candidate legal practitioners, and two administrative staff members from Potchefstroom providing support. They offer free legal services to indigent individuals or anyone unable to afford legal representation in any court of law, tribunal, or other body.
Chrisna explains how the satellite branch came into being. “At that time, Mpumalanga did not have a university, and we approached the Association of University Legal Aid Institutions (AULAI) Trust for funding to establish cluster programmes in various provinces in the country.
"We received the necessary funding, and following approval from the NWU’s Faculty of Law, the satellite office was established.”
She adds that, even though the University of Mpumalanga has since been established in 2014, it does not have a Law Faculty or department, and therefore the satellite office continues to add value.
“The office has been successfully managed since 2004 – with the gracious support from the external funders – and we continue to serve the community. The office also provides legal services to several community-based paralegal advice offices throughout the Mpumalanga province, as well as back-up legal services and advice to the staff of those offices and to the communities they serve,” she adds.
The six onsite staff members of the NWU’s satellite law clinic in Mpumalanga.
The satellite law clinic offers invaluable free legal services to members of the community.
