The team from Mediate Mzansi NPC in the front from left, are Lisa Neethling, mediator and founding member; Martin Weilbach, senior mediator; Nerena Hancke, senior mediator and founding member. In the back from left, are Emce Louw, mediator; and mediator Lee-Anne Gammage.
The team of mediators from Mediate Mzansi, a new registered non-profit company based in Strand, has one mission in mind: to make mediation services available and accessible to all.
Martin Weilbach, senior mediator and founding member and senior mediator, Nerena Hancke, from the organisation, spoke to Bolander on their goals to make more people aware of mediation services and in doing so, offer them an alternative conflict resolution solution.
Their pro-bono work and the cases they encountered in communities they say, alerted them to the great need existing for an alternative to costly legal processes.This realisation motivated the founding of Mediate Mzansi last year.
The organisation offers mediation sessions, mentorship programmes and a public education initiative which entails the hosting of community information talks.
The purpose of these talks is to educate the public on mediation, it’s role, objectives, purpose, processes and procedures.
Their target market for their services are people from low and middle-income groups, who necessarily don’t have the means to afford conventional legal fees, says Nerena.
“We find in most instances people are not aware of the services we offer, because they are rarely involved in or have legal issues, so their knowledge of the legal system and processes are very basic,” she says. These are the people they want to primarily focus on assisting.
Although based in Strand, the organisation is willing to assist in other areas. Nerena says: “At the moment we will go anywhere where there is a need and hopefully extend our services way beyond the Helderberg.”
Common cases or conflicts they advise on range from family disputes, maintenance issues, divorce or separations, labour issues and tenant or landlord disputes.
A cause however, they are most passionate about and cases where they are seeing the most value in their role are those involving families dealing with care and contact, particularly where they can assist with drawing up parenting plans navigating amicable solutions in the children’s best interest.
Martin says, knowing that with their involvement the lives of children are positively impacted, encourages them to continue to do more work in this area. Cases they however, do not deal with are domestic violence or any gender-based violence cases.
The pair points out mediation as a faster, affordable, workable and efficient way to resolve conflicts to the benefit of all parties involved and an alternative says Martin, to an already heavily burdened and overstretched court system with thousands of cases pending.
Martin says: “Mediation is a massive amount shorter, even if it’s a fairly complicated matter, the longest time to solve the issue would be about a month.” They recall the longest matter they dealt with took about 15 hours.
Lengthy court processes, adds Nerena can become costly not only in relation to legal fees, but in loss of income as people often need to take unpaid leave days to be in court.
Another advantage of mediation is the equal treatment and hearing of all parties involved. Nerena says: “One of the biggest benefits of meditation is our intention to preserve relationships.” Sessions are done in a comfortable, neutral sitting, where all parties are given the chance to have their voices heard. “In doing that you might not come to agree with the other party, but you do learn to understand the other party’s point of view.”
In mediation, although the process is navigated by mediators, people still have the freedom to exercise their choice. The organisation underlines the importance of them only assisting with informed, guided advice or prescribed solutions, suggesting alternative options, etc, but parties at the end of the sessions still retain the right to come to an agreement to the satisfaction of all involved.
“Although we are there to guide, advise and give people alternative options to take into consideration; they still get to decide and agree on what will work for them,” says Martin.
People might be hesitant to make use of mediation for fear that a mediated agreement is not legally binding. But participants are reassured that outcomes of mediation sessions are legally binding and parties can take the documents to court for it to become a court order.
Another leg of their work, is to create a collaborative operational network with other organisations. “We have been networking extensively in our community to establish a network of contacts, so that we can if needed, are able to refer people whom we cannot assist to the relevant organisations who can.”
Their goal is to make the service as affordable as possible so all can access it. The small fee is calculated based on people’s income. Those on social grants are charged a minimal fee.
A free consultation is offered for those unsure about considering mediation. “People can come in at no cost for a consultation session to see us and discuss their conflict and see if it’s something mediation would be suited for,” says Nerena.
Nerena stresses their mission to with mediation, play a role in creating harmonious communities, to through conflict resolution restore peace to the high conflict society in which people find themselves living in on a daily. “To get people out of toxic situations,” Martin adds.
Future plans include presenting educational workshops on conflict resolution at local high schools to arm pupils with conflict resolution skills.
Another goal is to equip police officers with knowledge on mediation, for instances where conflicts might not warrant a formal criminal charge and they can instead suggest mediation as an option to complainants.
Businesses, companies, schools, community organisations or groups are welcome to invite the group to present information sessions.
Contact Mediate Mzansi by sending a WhatsApp to 072 079 4472 or send emails to info@mediatemzansi.org