Oldrin Masowa

Justice in action: the Student Campus Council’s (SCC’s) Legal Office on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Potchefstroom Campus recently launched a legal aid service to assist students with legal matters.

Through this initiative, the SCC Legal Office aims to assist students with matters relating to student judicial services, the drafting of appeals as well as issues with lease agreements.

According to Cedric Nemakanga (23), LLB graduate and SCC legal officer, a lot of students gets into legal trouble and some of them are not aware of their legal and constitutional rights.

“Therefore, we started this initiative to educate and help students with their legal matters, especially those students who cannot afford legal representation.”

Cedric says many students know that you need a lawyer to go to court, but they are not aware that a lawyer could also represent a defendant during a student hearing.

As one of the founders of this initiative, he points out that the most common legal cases include issues with students’ accommodation contracts, academic plagiarism, student hearings and academic appeals.

The SCC legal aid team consists of six members - Dobie Maloba, Carissa Pretorius, Nomathemba Queen Mncube, Johannes Venter, Melusi Kubheka and Cedric Nemakanga.

Students who want legal advice or representation can visit the SCC Legal Office in the Student Centre on the Potchefstroom Campus at building F14, room 105 from 12:00 to 14:00, Monday to Friday. Students are also welcome to send an email to NWU.legalteam@gmail.com.

Ready to help his fellow students – Cedric Nemakanga.