Revival of Powa’s free legal services sees 50 women a month seeking help

Powa’s legal department was closed about two years ago due to lack of funds, but with funding from the Ford Foundation, will now be able to resume its services of providing gender-based violence (GBV) survivors with much-needed legal services and support that is free of charge. Picture: Pexels.

Powa’s legal department was closed about two years ago due to lack of funds, but with funding from the Ford Foundation, will now be able to resume its services of providing gender-based violence (GBV) survivors with much-needed legal services and support that is free of charge. Picture: Pexels.

Published Aug 27, 2021

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Johannesburg - People Opposing Women Abuse’s legal department already has about 150 clients in three months, after their much-needed and free of charge legal services were revived.

Powa’s legal department was closed about two years ago due to lack of funds, but with funding from the Ford Foundation, will now be able to resume its services of providing gender-based violence (GBV) survivors with much-needed legal services and support that is free of charge. The funding from the Ford Foundation amounts to about R3.5 million for three years.

The official launch of its revived legal department happened at the Johannesburg Central Magistrate’s Court on Thuersdayy.

Powa legal adviser Teboho Mashota said the department opened about three months ago and already had 150 clients seeking legal services.

“I’m talking about a team of one legal adviser, one legal manager and two paralegals. This is a team that is servicing the whole Gauteng province and we get other provinces who call in,” Mashota said.

She said that the 150 clients that the department already had showed that there was a need for these services and that Powa doesn’t just provide legal services.

“We educate and empower them but not only mentally, we give them the knowledge on how the legal system works because there are people who don’t know what to expect,” the legal adviser said.

The launch was attended by representatives from domestic violence sections, maintenance, the Department of Social Development and employees in the justice system.

A court interpreter shared her story as a survivor of GBV at the hands of her ex-husband and recalled a time when she arrived at work with an eye injury and a cut lip.

She said she managed to find the strength to leave her abusive husband with her four children, however, the family was involved in a tragic car accident shortly afterwards which left her with only one child.

“People think because you work within the Department of Justice that these things don’t happen. Abuse can happen to everybody. Educated or not. Male or female. It can happen to anyone,” she said.

Magistrate Nicola Olivier also spoke about her day-to-day experiences while presiding on domestic violence matters. She said that sometimes a protection order, which is a civil procedure, might not be enough to protect survivors and that a criminal procedure may be a more powerful deterrent to an abuser.

A senior magistrate emphasised the importance of after-care to empower survivors of abuse because fighting GBV should not be left only to the government and the criminal justice system.

Powa’s legal manager Disemelo Tlali said: “The legal department is critical to ensuring women receive the justice and security they deserve. Its importance cannot be overemphasised,” she said.

The Star