Open Government Partnership site visits to showcase Access to Justice in marginalised communities in the Free State province

As part of the Open Government Week, the South African Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Secretariat, in collaboration with the OGP Interim Steering Committee, will undertake visits to the legal advice Probono Helpdesk sites in the Free State Province.

During the Open Government Week, OGP stakeholders will visit the Community Advice Offices South Africa (CAOSA) Advice Desks as follows to get first-hand information about the paralegal Probono Helpdesks in the province:

• The Botshabelo District Court and CAOSA Advice Desk on 3 July 2024.
• The Thaba Nchu Magistrate Court and Batho ba Lerato Advice Centre on 4 July 2024.

First piloted in 2022 in the Gauteng province, CAOSA is spearheading the Free State Probono Helpdesks initiative in partnership with the Legal Practice Council (LPC), the Free State Division of the High Court, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (Free State Regional Office) and the University of the Free State Law Clinic.

The Probono Helpdesk offering in the Free State province is premised on increasing the visibility and accessibility of CAOSA and the LPC to ensure access to justice for marginalised communities. Given the province’s vastness, the approach was to leverage the spread of offices to improve access to services at a magistrate’s court level.

According to CAOSA, the model provides general paralegal support to the helpdesks and facilitates the provision of pro bono legal services to people who can’t afford to pay for them when necessary.

The OGP, which involves over 50 countries worldwide, was established in 2011 to foster country-specific programmes for promoting transparency, accountability, and corruption prevention, including access to justice in marginalised communities.