This is one of ProBono.Org’s busiest legal clinics. It is also an area of the law with the most interest and highest number of cases. In this area, legal practitioners deal with the most basic and everyday domestic legal challenges. These are the issues that affect people’s relationships and day to day interactions. Examples are protection orders, divorces, marriages, maintenance and so forth.

According to Stats SA, there was a notable decline in marriages during COVID times. The lowest recorded number of marriages was 89 338 in 2020. It is important to note that there are also marriages that have not been registered. These unregistered marriages affect the statistics. Those statistics that fall between the cracks are often clients that walk through the doors of ProBono.Org. Many clients walk into our offices with evidence of their marriages, with the desire or desperate need to get divorced.

Like any other area of law, this one is not free of intricate challenges. Clients often present cases that have been ongoing for many years. These issues may have affected their livelihoods and living arrangements in one way or another. Matters relating to custody of children are as a result of the marriages breaking down or one or both parents passing away. In cases like these, our child law department works hand-in-hand with the family law department. In more unfortunate cases, domestic violence is also experienced.

ProBono.Org runs a project on domestic violence. There are help desks across our three offices that assist in the applications necessary to protect victims of these acts. This is one of our most successful projects as it seeks to solve the scourge of high gender-based violence in South Africa. This project seeks to educate, to innovate and to influence positive impacts when dealing with domestic violence issues.

ProBono.Org offers support to Community Advice Offices (CAOs) in the form of workshops and information sessions on this area of law. These workshops also seek to advice the members on the correct channels to follow. This however does not take away from the need for legal practitioners. The training offered to CAO paralegals is to ensure that they advise community members on the correct channels to follow when assisting community members with these cases.

For more info visit https://probono.org.za/

South Africa is one of the few countries with arguably, the most progressive constitution in the world. The preamble states we are humans first and therefore affords rights to every human being that is on the South African land. That is of course, with limitations.

There are various statuses that the South African Department of Home Affairs department uses to distinguish non-South Africans. These are undocumented migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (Refugees Act 130 of 1998). Non-South Africans may also be people who have temporary visas, business visas, general work visas, study visas, critical skills work visas, intra-company transfer work visas, exchange visas, retired persons visas, medical treatment visas, relatives’ visas and permanent residents in terms of the Immigration Act (13 of 2002). These two pieces of legislation enable the Department of Home Affairs to keep track and document the number of people entering the country. Each of these have specific requirements.

Being undocumented affects an asylum seeker right to seek basic services, to apply for employment and even open a bank account. It further exposes them to potential arrest and deportation. Refugee related challenges affect children in many cases. This infringes their rights to education and health care amongst others.

ProBono.Org works closely with organisations such as Lawyers for Human Rights, CORMSA and many other organisations to assist people who have challenges with their documentation. This is achieved by assisting clients to make presentations to the relevant bodies such as the Refugee Appeals Authority of South Africa. Our panel of attorneys play an incredible role in assisting our clients with the necessary remedies. We would like to call on legal practitioners to sign up to do pro bono work with ProBono.Org.

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