Cape Town - The SA Women Lawyers Association’s (Sawla) Western Cape branch has elected a new executive committee, placing at the helm renowned Cape Town-based attorney Seehaam Samaai.
Sawla is a voluntary non-profit organisation of women lawyers officially launched in 2006 by former justice minister Brigitte Mabandla as a platform for women lawyers to exercise and advocate for the advancement of women’s rights and to empower women lawyers.
Sawla members include judges, magistrates, attorneys, candidate attorneys, advocates, state law advisers, corporate lawyers, prosecutors, academics, law students and paralegals.
Samaai, a veteran attorney with more than 20 years of experience and the director of the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC), is joined on the executive committee by advocate Chandré Brown as the branch’s vice-chairperson, and secretaries Yasmin Mohamed and Ayanda Stimela, and treasurer Ayanda Mdanjelwa.
The newly elected executive will serve in their position over the next two years.
Samaai said she was looking forward to putting in motion initiatives planned by the branch that embody the core objectives of the association, including relaunching clinics and new programmes focused on gender transformation and the advancement of women’s rights.
“First, Sawla is an association of women which is structured to empower women within the profession and to ensure that young women come through the profession.
“But that’s not all we do; Sawla also assists those who require free legal services in a range of legal matters.
“We are a broad network active in all provinces.
“I have been involved in Sawla since its inception.
“However, there were some challenges through the years, which saw us recently relaunch the Western Cape branch.”
Samaai said Sawla WC will also be looking at getting members of the association to take space in key positions, whether or not it is the magistrate or judiciary.
Over the course of the year, the provincial Sawla branch will be launching various initiatives aimed at advocating for women and vulnerable citizens.
Among their list of activities, Sawla WC says it will be launching a project in partnership with the Department of Justice focused on the concept of maintenance.
“We are broadly looking at launching this initiative in August, where we will have five maintenance clinics at key courts within the jurisdiction to ensure that there is access to justice for women.
“Our other initiative will go live during the 16 Days of Activism, which is always very important to us.
“During this time we will be hosting clinics that deal with GBV to ensure that people get their interdicts and protection orders when necessary,” Samaai said.