Legal Aid SA roped in to strengthen land claims - Lamola
Justice Minister Services Ronald Lamola says Legal Aid SA will play a more prominent role in the country’s efforts to change its patterns of land ownership.
Lamola told Parliament on Monday that the process to transfer the legal representation function, currently handled by the Land Rights Management Facility in the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, would be given to Legal Aid SA.
Lamola was speaking during a virtual meeting of Parliament's justice and correctional services committee on Monday morning.
The minister said the transfer would include the organisation’s budget.
"This development will fundamentally place Legal Aid SA at the centre of the efforts towards land justice in South Africa.
"The transfer will ensure that Legal Aid SA has both the finances and capacity required to broaden its reach to the indigent especially those who seek land justice. Further, I hope to introduce the Land Court Bill to Parliament this year.”
The minister believes the bill will broaden the mandate of the Land Claims Court.
This would result in creating permanent judges to enable the court to adjudicate in land disputes in this country effectively,” said Lamola.
"The quest for land justice is well documented, and it is somewhat an indictment to those of us who believe in justice, that we find ourselves with a paucity of land jurisprudence 26 years after achieving democracy particularly on the proper interpretation of just and equitable as provided in section 25 (3) of the Constitution.”