All news items
15 June 2009
Widespread xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa in May 2008 generated new debates around the issue of border control. This new report by the Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand refines this discussion by examining the inner workings and practices of the smuggling industry on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border.
There have been many calls for...
11 June 2009
THE decision by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to try to evict emerging farmer Veronica Moos again is probably a blessing in disguise.Moos herself, of course, is devastated. After winning a court order to be restored to her farm, she set about securing production credit with the backing of the Gauteng branch of farmers' union AgriSA, and is being assigned a mentor to provide...
9 June 2009
Submission by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) to the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, IDPs and Migrants at the 45th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
4 June 2009
AS THE grieving families of the 63 illegal miners killed in an underground fire gathered at a mortuary in Welkom to identify their loved ones yesterday, a human rights organisation slammed the "inhumane" attitude towards the dead.
The national director of Lawyers for Human Rights, advocate Jacob van Garderen, also bemoaned the fact that the illegal miners, known as zama-zamas, had to...
1 June 2009
Xingwana has denied impropriety, insisting she played no role in eviction and land-allocation decisions by her officials while she was minister of land and agriculture. Xingwana launched the group, Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (Ward), soon after taking over the portfolio in 2006.
She has been a vocal champion of Ward ever since, frequently sharing the same podium with its...
27 May 2009
By Barry Bateman
A city charity organisation has contingency plans in place to help in the event of next week's widely expected mass eviction of tenants at Schubart Park. Last year the Tshwane Metro Council issued tenants with a May 31 deadline to vacate the building, but has remained mum on what exactly is planned on June 1 if the flats are not vacated.
"If this happens the council will...
27 May 2009
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday ordered the government to restore land to a black farmer evicted last month under its controversial "use it or lose it" policy. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday ordered the government to restore land to a black farmer evicted last month under its controversial "use it or lose it" policy. The case was brought...
25 May 2009
Lawyers for Human Rights Stellenbosch office seeks two candidate attorneys
Requirements A LLB graduate – seeking Articles of Clerkship, for duration of 1 year;· Preferably a candidate who has completed his/her School for Legal Practice;· Will be legible to register his/her articles with the Cape Law Society· English and Afrikaans speaking;· A...
13 May 2009
A year after xenophobic violence spread across South Africa like wildfire, refugees continue to face threats of violence and authorities have done little to address the root cause of the attacks, says the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa.
The attacks that began on May 11, 2008, in Alexandra, Gauteng, spread across the country, and resulted in 62 deaths and the displacement of...
13 May 2009
MUSINA, South Africa - It's easy to miss the two girls. They are so small they seem to disappear amid the dozen Zimbabwean boys crowded around them along the trash-choked drain. Sofia Chimhangwa, a 14-year-old in a denim skirt, lies on the concrete under a filthy blanket. Her 15-year-old friend sits next to her, braiding a legless Barbie's hair. Sofia says she survives because the other girl'...