In the media
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26 May 2015
Business Day
The raids and subsequent detention of an estimated 400 migrants and refugees at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg earlier this month raised questions about the real reasons for the deployment of the army to so-called "xenophobic hot spots".
The South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF’s) joint operations with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Home Affairs was originally touted by politicians as a means to shield vulnerable immigrants from the spate of xenophobic attacks that left seven foreign nationals dead.
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18 June 2015
Daily Maverick
While South Africa’s Constitution is one of the most studied and popularised documents within international civil society, the majority of South Africans themselves have little or no knowledge of the supreme law of the land. And while civil society in South Africa has had a “rollercoaster relationship” with the Constitution, there is a gap between its written promises and the lived reality of the majority.
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17 June 2015
Times Live
South Africa will escape with little more than a slap on the wrist for allowing international fugitive and war crimes accused Omar al-Bashir to escape justice.
The Sudanese president, who escaped via Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pretoria, is wanted for war crimes and genocide in his country, where nearly 300 000 people have been killed and more than 2million people displaced during years of conflict.
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13 June 2015
Saturday Star
The Merafong municipality is to instruct Rand Water to reconnect the water supply to the embattled Blyvooruitzicht mine by no later than Monday, according to an interim settlement agreement that has been reached.
An application by Lawyers for Human Rights had sought to compel the municipality and Rand Water to reconnect the water supply to Blyvoor on the far West Rand. It was disconnected last month as the municipality was owed more than R182 million in arrears.
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12 June 2015
The Star
The liquidators of Blyvooruitzicht gold mine in Carletonville scored a major victory against Merafong Local Municipality after being allowed to investigate why their water bill stood at R197 million.
The bill dates from 2006.
The mine’s troubles began in August 2013, when it was placed under liquidation and thousands of workers were left jobless.
During the intervening years, Merafong had supplied water at a cost of more than R3m a month for mining operations, household and business use in the mine village.
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10 June 2015
SABC News
A severe water crisis is leaving the small town of Blyvooruitzicht in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg, high and dry.
The local mining community has been without running water for close to a month because the mine, which is currently being liquidated, owes the municipality close to R200 million in arrears. The matter is now destined for the courts.
One of the residents, Sithembile Sithole's household has to do without water. This as days of carrying buckets to the nearest tank, have turned into weeks.
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5 June 2015
Mail & Guardian
Many of South Africa’s correctional facilities, and most acutely its remand detention facilities, are overcrowded, creating dehumanising and dangerous conditions.
Detainees are frequently compelled to remain in their cells for up to 23 hours a day. There are even incidences of detainees being permitted to exercise for only one hour in an entire month. Overcrowding, poorly trained employees and severe staff shortages render detainees vulnerable to abuse, violence, disease and physical and psychological illness.
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5 June 2015
The Economist
AFTER a spate of murderous attacks in Durban and Johannesburg on migrant workers from neighbouring countries, South Africa badly needs to improve its image on the continent. And at the level of gestures and rhetoric, it is trying to do exactly that. On a visit to Mozambique last month President Jacob Zuma apologised for the violence by a “small minority” of his compatriots which had cost the lives of three people from that country. Then he organised “Africa Day” celebrations in Pretoria, commemorating the creation of a precursor to the African Union (AU) in 1963.
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5 June 2015
Globe and Mail
Many of South Africa’s correctional facilities, and most acutely its remand detention facilities, are overcrowded, creating dehumanising and dangerous conditions.
Detainees are frequently compelled to remain in their cells for up to 23 hours a day. There are even incidences of detainees being permitted to exercise for only one hour in an entire month. Overcrowding, poorly trained employees and severe staff shortages render detainees vulnerable to abuse, violence, disease and physical and psychological illness.
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23 May 2015
Times Live
Unnatural deaths, public searches of bodies stripped naked, torture, overcrowding, violence, and a rampant spread of tuberculosis all run counter to the new set of guidelines on fair treatment for prisoners adopted by the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice on Friday, which they have named the Mandela Rules.
The world forum also declared that Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18 will also be known as Mandela Prisoner Rights Day, to help raise awareness about prisoners.
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