Durban — After seeing people lose their valuables such as cars and houses because of unfair retrenchments during the Covid-19 pandemic, a young woman attorney, Wendy Cele, established a membership-based legal firm, 101 Legal.
Cele, from Dududu on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, started her legal firm Wendy Cele and Associates seven years ago; but has since launched the membership-based wing, 101 Legal, where clients pay monthly subscriptions for future legal representation.
In an interview with the Daily News, Cele, 32, said it was painful to see people losing their properties after they were retrenched and having no funds to fight to keep their possessions. It was an eye-opener which prompted her to establish membership-based legal services under her existing legal firm, Wendy Cele and Associates.
“It is very important for people to start saving towards their legal representation as it always catches them with no money. “It is impossible (for most people) to have between R5 000 and R10 000 stashed somewhere waiting for your legal representation.
“Whether you are wrongfully arrested or not, you will need a lawyer to state that for you in court so it is important that you prepare for it now,” said Cele.
She is currently representing the uMkhonto weSizwe Party Members of Parliament who were expelled by the MK Party.
She is not the first woman to provide such a service but the first black person to do so. Membership-based legal services have been a predominantly white-dominated market.
Cele was raised by a single mother, Lindiwe Mqadi, and is an only child. She attended Mtwalume High School until matric and thereafter enrolled for an LLB Law degree at the University of Zululand. She completed her Honour’s degree in Public Administration at the same institution and a post-graduate diploma in Industrial Relations through the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Cele said she found it challenging being a woman in the legal fraternity because it was a male-dominated profession.
As a woman, she needed to work harder and double the effort even when it came to convincing clients that she could compete with the men.
She said there was an incident where her family “was wronged by the law back in 1999 and that inspired me to pursue law so that I could fight against victimisation and for human rights”. For this reason, she specialised in civil litigation, labour law and family law.
“My dream is to be a judge one day as that position plays a pivotal role in ensuring the rights of the people are protected at all times,” she added.
Cele has offices in Durban, Port Shepstone and Johannesburg.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News