Sakeliga negotiates unique legal aid offering against land invasions
8 August 2018
Business organisation, Sakeliga (formerly known as AfriBusiness/AfriSake), today announced that it has negotiated a unique legal aid deal against land invasions with Hurter Spies Attorneys. The legal aid offering comes amid a country-wide wave of illegal land occupations.
In terms of the legal aid agreement, Hurter Spies Attorneys will assist corporate and platinum members of Sakeliga at a discount of around 40% in the acquisition of an urgent interdict against illegal land occupiers.
Piet le Roux, CEO of Sakeliga, says the legal aid deal helps the public to act against illegal occupiers if government fails to do so: “The frequency and scale of land occupations are increasing sharply. It must be stopped, because it would otherwise seriously destabilise the country and economy. Of course, it is in the first place the responsibility of government, and president Cyril Ramaphosa in particular, to put out the fires that they have stoked. However, at the same time the public cannot sit arms folded when a government or a president neglects its duties. That is why Sakeliga believes that this legal aid deal is in the interests of both its members and the public at large.”
While the cost of an urgent interdict in matters like these could easily run up to R50 000 or more, such aid would be available to Sakeliga’s corporate and platinum members at a fixed price of R30 000, for normal cases. The legal aid offering includes the attorney and advocate fees for obtaining an urgent interdict against land occupiers in typical cases.
Le Roux says one of the instruments that are often needed before occupiers can be evicted is an urgent interdict: “With an urgent interdict against land occupiers a land owner can obtain the assistance of private security or police more easily. Without an interdict it is more difficult, especially for private security, to evict large numbers of illegal land occupiers.”
Le Roux continues: “Sakeliga has on many occasions made use of the services of Hurter Spies Attorneys to acquire urgent interdicts against land occupiers. With Hurter Spies Attorneys’s assistance we have thus far always had success, and so we know that they have in this area the necessary skills and experience. We are happy to be able to offer our members a way of accessing their services directly and at favourable rates.”
The legal aid offering covers a client’s attorney and advocate cost in typical cases. Should it emerge that, in any particular case, special circumstances which might influence cost prevail, Hurter Spies Attorneys will discuss it with clients before proceeding with action.
Issued by Piet le Roux, CEO, Sakeliga, 8 August 2018
