The Students for Law and Social Justice (SLSJ)is an organisation formed in partnership between students of the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape, University of the North west, University of Kwazulu Natal and the University of Fort Hare.

Conditions of the society :

Our commitment to justice is founded upon an understanding of the material conditions of our society, including the following:

• South Africa has a history of injustice and dispossession, in which law was used as a tool in the hands of the oppressive state.
• Lawyers, often in conjunction with mass movements, used law to resist injustice and to open spaces for political and social progress.
• There remains great inequality between rich and poor in South Africa. Responding to this must be a priority for all in order to make freedom meaningful for the majority of our people.
• Divisions of race, class, national and ethnic origin, language, sex, gender, sexual orientation, health, religion, economic position, culture, age, belief, opinion must be confronted so that we can unite around a common progressive political vision for our society.

Principles:

The SLSJ is founded upon the following principles:

• Advancing the constitutional values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms;
• a commitment to non-racialism and non-sexism as well as the supremacy of the Constitution of South Africa and the rule of law;
• the need for a progressive and united student voice – across universities, faculties and disciplines – to address the challenges of our society.

Aims:

The SLSJ aims to:

• Learn about the challenges facing our world, continent and country, and about how a progressive rule of law can underpin development and social transformation;
• Lead students across South Africa to engage in legal and organising work to build social justice; and
• Provide opportunities for legal graduates to engage in public interest legal work before and after graduation;
• Work for the transformation of our law schools and universities into socially engaged institutions that recognise the challenges of our society and dedicate themselves to those challenges, whilst working to improve standards and accessibility.