LEGAL RESOURCES CENTRE

  
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is committed to a fully democratic society based on the principles of substantive equality. It seeks to ensure that the principles, rights and responsibilities enshrined in our Constitution are respected, promoted, protected and fulfilled. Since 1979, the LRC has functioned as an independent, public interest law clinic which provides free legal services to poor, vulnerable and marginalised individuals and communities in South Africa.

The Claude Leon Foundation has provided on-going support to LRC over the past decade. Some of the cases undertaken with the Foundation's support include the West Coast Artisanal Fishers case. For a number of years, the LRC has been representing over a thousand households in the Western Cape who are dependent on subsistence fishing both for food and as a source of modest income. These LRC clients come from poor traditional artisanal fishing communities and their livelihoods are threatened and prejudiced by the failure on the part of the state to take into account their rights under the Marine Living Resources Act.

In another important case supported by the Claude Leon Foundation, the Sekuruwe community launched a review application in the North Gauteng High Court to set aside a lease granted by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform to Potgietersrust Platinums Limited (PPL), an Anglo American Platinum Corporation subsidiary, to locate a new tailings dam on a portion of the Blinkwater farm in Limpopo. Blinkwater is home to the Sekuruwe community, a rural village in which a great many residents derive their livelihood at least partially and often entirely through agricultural activities. The Claude Leon Foundation has also supported the LRC in setting up a womens rights programme.