BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – In an effort to ensure that all Emaswati have access to justice, the Ombudsman of Financial Services (OFS) and Eswatini Legal Aid (ELA) have come together to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The MoU was signed today (Tuesday, June 11, 2024) at the OFS offices in Ingcamu Building, Mbabane. The aim of the MoU is to ensure that all Emaswati, especially those that cannot afford services of legal representation, have access to justice. In signing the MoU, the two organisations were represented by OFS Nondumiso Simelane and ELA Director Lungile Magagula. They are the actual people who signed the MoU, together with their witnesses.
The event started at 9am and lasted until about 11am and it was directed by Khulisumnotfo Dlamini, who is the Adjudicator in the Office of the OFS. Explaining the purpose of the MoU, Simelane said such was created to share knowledge among the two organisations. She said for instance, they would need legal redress from ELA concerning financial service providers who could decide not to follow the order that could have been issued by the OFS.
Simelane said another reason was that they could be able to refer certain cases to the ELA, if they felt that cases brought before them felt under the arm bit of ELA. She also mentioned that another reason for the MoU was to share knowledge among the organisations, where there would be a need. ELA Director Lungile Magagula said the significance of the MoU was to provide the foundation and structure for all possible anticipated interactions related to legal aid services, information training, human capital development, resource sharing, and outlining areas of cooperation on legal matters.
Magagula thanked the Office of the OFS and everyone involved for making sure that this event was made possible.
