Thandiswa Nketyana –  Paralegal Coordinator,
Department of Social Responsibility Paralegal Justice Programme

Education of employees and sometimes employers about their rights and responsibilities plays a major role in the decline of Labour Related complaints. A handful of UIF claimants who were signing for their benefits since December 2005 had since received their monies in February 2006.  Since Kei Road is surrounded by farm areas, there have been a number of people staying in farms because they work there.  It is sometime not made clear to them that their stay is dependant on them working on that farm.  Should employment be terminated, their right of residence ceases but a farm-owner should give the family 1 month’s notice to vacate the farm and must do that with a court order according to Section 39 of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA).  Farm employees often think that they have a right to stay on the farm indefinitely and on the other side employers think that they can evict someone without 1 month’s notice and a court order.  

There are two cases of farm evictions reported that were not conducted according to the procedures of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) but were subsequently resolved after explaining ESTA to both employers and employees.  Employers now occasionally call the office when contemplating eviction and termination of employment for farm dwellers.

A total number of 76 labour related cases were reported to the office.  UIF submissions and claims are still on the high.  The Dept. of Labour is visiting Kei Road twice every month and the officials come from Mdantsane not King William’s Town, as it was the case before.  The delivery of services and response on cases has improved tremendously, credit to the change of Service Office.

Thandiswa Nketyana –  Paralegal Coordinator,
Department of Social Responsibility Paralegal Justice Programme

203 cases were reported to the office with the highest numbers of Disability Grant and Child Support Grant applications.  HIV/Aids related illnesses are main contributor to the high number of Disability Grant applications because people with a CD4 count less that 200 are entitled to apply. Social Security beneficiaries are encouraged to start food gardening projects trying to move them away from grant dependency. As a result of that, two pieces of land have been identified by community members at Nompandlana at Border Post and Freshwater at Ndakana.  Both these communities have started with growing vegetables and Mr. Magida is mentoring them. There is a noticeable speed on Foster Care grant applications and the social worker in charge of Kei Road area contacts the office and the clients on regular basis for updates.

The Department of Social Development still continues with its monthly visits to Kei Road.  These visits are for people from Kei Road, Border Post, Majali and Frankfort to come and make new Social Security Grants applications, grant reviews and appeals.  This is very helpful as people do not have to travel to Stutterheim at a cost of R35.00 to apply for Social Security grants.

Thandiswa Nketyana –  Paralegal Coordinator,
Department of Social Responsibility Paralegal Justice Programme

As previously stated in 2005 annual report that HIV/Aids is a complex and crosscutting issue, and that all sectors of the society (churches, NGO’s, government departments etc.) should participate and be involved holistically in responding to the pandemic.  HIV/Aids continues to be regarded as the most contributor to highest number of orphans in our area of operation.Paralegal coordinator pioneered the start of orphan and vulnerable children identification together with HIV/Aids Programme Assistant Coordinator. Ndakana and Nompandlana OVC projects are all as a result of coordinated efforts between Paralegal, HIV/AIDS and Land Justice Programmes and they are showing potential to sustain orphans and vulnerable children. With the help of Sisonke Community Development Programme, all these projects will benefit in the small grants the provided by this programme, to enable them to support these children.

WESTERN CAPE: Black Sash helped establish the Western Cape Emergency Civil Society Task Team, set-up a day after Xenophobic attacks broke out in the Western Cape. We are working with city, provincial and national authorities to prevent the spread of violence against foreign nationals, as well as provide humanitarian relief, legal support and assistance with the re-integration of people displaced by the crisis.   

KWAZULU-NATAL: Black Sash is actively involved in civil society initiatives and partnerships developed in response to the crisis, specifically providing support to Lawyers For Human Rights (LHR) and Mennonite Central Committee Refugee Project (MCC).  Our interns are assisting with the registration of non-nationals who have declared their intention of returning home. We are also working closely with other civil society stakeholders to assist in humanitarian relief efforts. We would like to commend SAPS, Metro Police, HRC, RED CROSS, DoSD and Department of Health for their great responses in this time of crisis. 

GAUTENG: Black Sash joined a civil society stakeholders meeting (convened by the Human Rights commission) on the evening that Xenophobic violence first broke out in Alexandra, Johannesburg. Besides devising immediate intervention strategies and pooling resources to provide a coordinated response to the crisis, we helped establish task teams to address specific needs. The Sash is currently part of the Legal Task Team which includes the Legal Resource Centre, Lawyers for Human Rights, CORMSA and the Commission for Gender and Equality. Key issues we are dealing with are a moratorium on deportation; collecting and collating statements from the victims and lodging cases against the perpetrators. We have also called on the Social Development MEC to extend Social Relief of Distress to the victims of Xenophobia violence as a matter of urgency and are currently exploring longer term intervention strategies around establishing Migrant Help Desks in certain municipalities.  

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