Speaking during the debate last June on the Fund-Raising Act, Mrs Helen Suzman described the purpose of the proposed law: "the idea is to block funds coming from overseas to provide legal defence for people who are accused of certain crimes in this country". She added:
"The Minister of Justice made an absolute point of telling us in the House that he has the strongest objections to these funds coming into South Africa. According to him it is not because he does not want people to be defended — oh no! — but he does not want money to come into South Africa from overseas. How he imagines that any resources in this country would be sufficient to provide the enormous funds required for the defence in these security cases, some of which go on literally for years and years before they are brought to finality, is beyond me. One hon member had the gall to suggest that legal aid is available to everybody in South Africa. That, of course, is just not true. First of all, pro deo defence is certainly provided in every case where the punishment may be a capital punishment. However it is quite untrue to say that legal aid is available to anybody else".
She went on to give the earnings limits for legal aid applications as follows:
Monthly earnings below which legal aid may be obtained White R140 Coloured/Asian R105 African R95
The limit in each case is doubled for married men.
