School of Law Partners with Traditional Communities to Promote Rural Access to Justice

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As part of the Street Law module, UKZN final-year Law students are required to undertake a 25-hour community outreach programme, to raise awareness on human rights and the law, and remedies available to communities. The initiative is part of the module, taught by Dr Janine Hicks aimed at equipping Law students with theoretical underpinnings of and practical skills in using participatory methodology to communicate legal and human rights information to diverse communities.

This year, a team of students participated in a joint initiative with the Mpungose Traditional Authority (MTA) - a local traditional authority based in the rural communities adjacent to Eshowe, falling under the leadership of a traditional leader, Inkosi Thandisizwe Mpungose. Hicks explained that since 2023, Street Law students have been conducting training and awareness workshops with MTA court officials on how to respond to community legal issues such as ukuthwala (abduction for marriage,) using traditional court structures and processes.

‘Our students train court officials and izinduna on substantive content of law pertaining to the chosen topic, and on court procedures, and prepare these stakeholders to run a mock trial on the topic. These interventions serve to demonstrate to officials the practical application of law, and to pilot the newly-developed software package designed by Inkosi Mpungose to digitise traditional court proceedings, as these courts are brought into the formal legal system under the newly adopted Traditional Courts Act,’ she said.

In this year’s programme, the team chose to prepare the MTA stakeholders to conduct a Mock Trial on a rape case. The scenario entailed demonstrating to traditional community stakeholders the elements of a rape case that could be dealt with in this forum, noting that traditional courts do not have jurisdiction to hear criminal trials, such as in a rape case. Stakeholders also learned about the complementary roles of the National Prosecution Authority and SAPS, in investigating and prosecuting such cases, and how best to refer these cases and lend support to survivors.

Law student and Programme Coordinator Ms Amanda Mbhele said she learned a lot from this experience: ‘I now have first-hand experience of how the traditional courts work and the kind of cases they can deal with. Being a Law student has exposed me to how the Magistrates, High, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional courts operate, but being a part of this ground-breaking initiative has broadened my perspective of the Justice system. It has highlighted the importance of working together to get positive convictions.’

Words: NdabaOnline

Photograph: Supplied