A group of Langa residents gathered at a local library for the third Annual Multidisciplinary Lawyers Information Session on Saturday 15 September. The session was organised by Langa Library in collaboration with the Friends of Langa Library.
Library manager Sandile Bukani described the event as part of educating and empowering the community about the importance of understanding the law.
“We want people to come to the library and not to see it as a place for books only. There are a lot of activities that we do here for the community,” said Bukani.
Western Cape Black Lawyers Association secretary Ashley Leeuw said they’ve been working in partnership with Friends of Langa Library since 2023.
He said they were there to give legal clinics to the community.
“Through our interaction with the community we decided to invite the office of the Master of the High Court in Cape Town also to talk about the services that they offer. We also provided general legal advice, like how to file for divorce, draft wills, maintenance etc,” explained Leeuw.
Assistant Master of the High Court Bongiwe Adonis said their mandate as the department is to ensure access to justice for all and provide legal advice to the community.
She said the partnership is part of their outreach programme.
“The event came at the right time because September is a month of wills. And we also have a Wills Week,” explained Adonis and urged people to create wills. She stated that in a will is where a person needs to consider “all the blind spots in case he or she died” so that the children cannot be robbed or defrauded.
The Wills Week was observed from Monday 15 September until Friday 19 September.
Adonis said a will protects the circumvent intestate succession that may be undesirable and to circumvent an estate from being defrauded.
Resident Nokwanda Lumkwana from Zone 12 described the event as informative.
“We have a problem as siblings where we fight over our parents’ assets. My youngest brother demanded the house. He chased me and my sister out citing that he is a man and has the right over it. I wanted to find out how we can get help,” said Lumkwana.
