The Legal Aid Board has accepted most of the flood of applications stemming from the constitutional clause which offers state-sponsored legal representation.
A board official, Peter Brits, said this week that the board had accepted 115 000 out of about 125 000 applications in the 12 months to March.
The acceptance rate came despite a “relatively complicated” screening process, and, on top of “normal” legal aid, lifted the board’s total pay-out to R93-million in the year to March.
The Constitution says citizens have the right “to have a legal aid practitioner assigned to the accused by the state, and at state expense, if substantial injustice would otherwise result, and to be informed of this right”.
The board, which last week defended itself in Parliament against allegations of mismanagement, was asked by the Justice Ministry in March 1995 to handle applications flowing from the clause. It set up its constitutional legal aid screening scheme a month later.
The Johannesburg High Court will next week hear the case of a hijacker sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment who was refused state- backed legal representation. It will be argued that he was not informed of his right to the representation.
Paul Setsetse, spokesman for Justice Minister Dullah Omar, said that a Legal Aid Amendment Bill would be placed before Parliament to formalise the Legal Aid Board’s position as the state’s agent for screening applications under the Constitution.
Board director Nic Pretorius told the parliamentary justice committee that the organisation was not mismanaged, but that it suffered from a shortage of staff. He had applied to the State Expenditure Department in May 1995 for funds for 77 new posts, but was given only 40.