Black Sash provincial director Alexa Lane says many are still unaware of their rights and are excluded from participating in society because of poverty and unemployment.
Black Sash provincial director Alexa Lane says many are still unaware of their rights and are excluded from participating in society because of poverty and unemployment.
Black Sash, an independent human rights organisation, has worked to monitor, promote and ensure that social and economic freedoms set in the South African constitution are met for citizens.
Lane said the organisation aims to make human rights real for all who live in South Africa, by educating people, advocating policies that promote and protect civil liberties, monitoring service delivery and providing free paralegal advice to people on how to access their rights within the law.
Lane said the Grahamstown office provides advice and assistance to people to access their social and economic rights and apply for grants. These include pensions, social grants, provident funds and workers' compensation for occupational illnesses and diseases. However there is no provision for those with chronic illnesses to access disability grants.
“We have been actively engaging with other civil society organisations at a national level, who have agreed to join us in our campaign to advocate and lobby for this inclusion,” said Lane.
She also proudly relates how the local Black Sash office assisted in recovering more than R850 000 in unpaid pension fund benefits for a Port Alfred client this year.
The organisation also offers information on children and labour rights and debt- and credit-related matters, but does not provide debt counselling services.
It also does not employ attorneys and is therefore not able to litigate on behalf of clients, but it has developed good cross-referral systems with local organisations that do offer legal services.
Lane says clients are accommodated on first-come-first-serve basis. A paralegal consults and educates the person about his or her options on how to take the issue further. They will open a case and follow it up, Lane says. This could include being referred to the appropriate government department, agency or another institution for further assistance.
Black Sash demonstrated its commitment to voter education by releasing reviews of the top five political parties’ manifestos before local elections in May, to enable voters to assess where each party stood on key socio-economic issues.
“The findings were released to the media, civil society networks and made available on our website,” says Lane.
Eastern Cape Black Sash offices run a number of community programmes across this province and in the Free State. They conduct rights education workshops and also support advice offices in rural towns by providing rights information packs.
Lane says the Black Sash is working with community leaders to help build a culture of accountability within their communities and in the government. Their engagement is through a combination of service-delivery and advocacy.
For legal services:
Contact person: Jonathan Walton (Regional Director)
Address: 6 Bathurst Street
Grahamstown
Telephone:046 622 8091
