Lawyers offer free services

Local
LAWYERS drawn from all law firms in Bulawayo will offer free individual legal counselling to members of the public at the Old Pumula Youth Centre on Saturday, starting from 8am to 4pm.

LAWYERS drawn from all law firms in Bulawayo will offer free individual legal counselling to members of the public at the Old Pumula Youth Centre on Saturday, starting from 8am to 4pm.

SILAS NKALA STAFF REPORTER

The lawyers are conducting the free legal clinics under the auspices of the Bulawayo Legal Practitioners’ Association, in conjunction with the Law Society of Zimbabwe.

Bulawayo Legal Practitioners’ Association vice-president Christopher Dube-Banda yesterday said they realised that there were many people with legal problems in the city who were failing to consult experts due to financial constraints.

“We then decided to give free advice to all those who will be able to come and the consultation and legal advice will be conducted individually,” he said.

“We will cover all spectrums be it civil, criminal or marital.

“Many legal experts will be available and we call all members of the public who need free legal advice to attend.”

Dube-Banda said a similar programme was held in Harare last Saturday and was once conducted in Bulawayo some time ago. He said this time they wanted to do it at a large scale and they hoped to hold it annually.

Dube-Banda said the lawyers would offer advice and direct people where to go for legal assistance.

“We are ploughing back to the community. We have invited law firms which assist the less privileged such as the Bulawayo Legal Resources Foundation and the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers’ Association to attend,” he said.

“This will make it easy for those who are less privileged to know where to go after getting legal advice if they have problems.”

He said this year the programme would be conducted in Bulawayo, but their intentions were to spread to areas outside the city.