Since 2006, ProBono.Org have been hard at work in making sure that justice is served for the poor who most need it but don’t have the means to access legal eagles:
South Africa (12 December 2024) — Anyone who has ever found themselves needing a lawyer knows just how costly it is to hire one. Now, imagine someone who can barely make ends meet. Imperative yet inaccessible—so many people who need representation simply cannot reach it. Here, in this space of gross societal unfairness, ProBono.Org was born.
Founded in 2006 and based in Joburg, Cape Town and Durban, the organisation began as a way to support the indigent and vulnerable in a place where they are often sorely forgotten. Operating by finding legal practitioners to take on clients’ civil cases, from divorce to labour matters and cases where children desperately need help, ProBono.Org uses a clearing house model to provide support to the less fortunate.
Their model helps connect people in need (the clients) to private lawyers and legal practitioners who need to fulfil their pro bono obligations. In this way, they are path builders who help the private legal sector connect to the legal needs of those without the means!
Good News, Legal Eagle Style
ProBono.Org has been behind many good news stories, extending from educational access to children’s rights. Here are a few examples of the fantastic happy endings they helped make possible!
Accessing Education Against the Odds
In one case, ProBono.Org’s Children’s Project successfully assisted the child of an asylum seeker in accessing her right to education! This was thanks to the court placing emphasis on the right to education as embedded in section 29 of the Constitution in terms of Centre for Child Law and Others v Minister of Basic Education and Others 2020 (3) SA 141.
“As a result of our intervention she has now been allowed to write her NSC examinations and is extremely relieved,” shares Hellen Motau of ProBono.Org.
“A day later, 8 more children who also had the same challenge from the same school were assisted and were able to sit for their exams.”
Identity at Last
In another case, a mother left her child with his father when he was just 6 months old. It came time for the child to apply for his ID, but the father had passed away. The child’s mother had the records of the child’s birth but refused to assist with the ID.
“This affected the child’s education, as he could not go to school because of the lack of an identity document,” shares Hellen
Luckily, the teen’s paternal grandmother and aunt stepped in to help and approached ProBono.Org for help.
“The One Child A Year project successfully found an advocate to assist with this case. Counsel and the child law consultant spoke to the mother and were able to get her to assist the child. He now has an identity document.”
The Winding Road to Healthcare
In a public interest case, a client approached the organisation for help with an ID that had been stolen many years ago, along with all his documentation.
This client could not access health care services without an ID, which is a problem considering the client needed help with medical challenges.
“During [the robbery] the perpetrators poured acid on the client. As a result he suffered serious injuries to his face, eyes and hands. The injury to his fingers resulted in the loss of his fingerprints,” Hellen explains.
However, he was able to inform the ProBono.Org staff that he was in the Army School in the 1970s—a turning point for his hope.
“After many calls and emails to the Army with a name, surname and birth day, date and year, the Army was able to produce a small document with his identity number.
The ProBono.Org team drafted an affidavit to Home Affairs with the evidence that was obtained, explaining that it was not his fault that he lost his fingerprints. The client was able to receive the Identity Document. The client is now receiving medical care and a social grant.”
A Title Deed Debacle
Another case saw a client in a pinch after their identity number and gender were captured incorrectly by Home Affairs.
“With those incorrect details, the client’s title deed on their property was registered with this flawed information,” Hellen tells Good Things Guy.
While the client was able to rectify the errors at Home Affairs, the deeds office wasn’t as simple. They refused to rectify the details despite him producing the documents, which showed that his papers had errors and had been corrected.
ProBono.Org stepped in with a legal swoop and helped the client eventually get the title deed amended at last!
You can learn more about the organisation here.
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