All news items
2 June 2011
Women residents from the Ramaphosa informal settlement east of Johannesburg have stood up to spaza shop owners who tried to order their foreign competitors out of the area.
What started out as a drive to evict Somali and Pakistani businessmen from a township notorious for xenophobia has backfired spectacularly.
'The same guys who want our bosses to leave treat us badly'
In the early hours of...
30 May 2011
Plans are underway to establish asylum reception centres on the country's borders amid complaints that those close to business areas are a nuisance and irritating, home affairs said on Friday.This would also ensure that fewer foreigners entered the country, said home affairs director-general Mkuseli Apleni. The department was recently ordered to relocate a reception centre in Crown Mines,...
25 May 2011
Johannesburg - Round two of a battle by two Batswana to avoid the death penalty in their country continued in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.The extradition laws and constitutions of Botswana and South Africa were pitted against each other. Also, the extradition treaty the two countries have signed, came into focus.
The South African Constitution gives emphasis to human rights and...
24 May 2011
The City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit established to prevent the illegal occupation of city and provincial land, is acting unlawfully says Lawyers for Human Rights.
LHR lawyer Sheldon Magardie said the unit demolished structures without a court order and he was planning to approach the Cape High Court for an interdict to prevent the city from doing so.
“In our view, the city...
12 May 2011
South African and Zimbabwean immigration officials met in Beit Bridge on Friday and agreed to deal jointly with irregular migration between the two countries amid revelations that 64 Somali refugees were rounded up in the border town as they attempted to cross the border into South Africa illegally. The emergency meeting followed growing concerns by immigration authorities from the two countries...
8 April 2011
Excerpt from allafrica.com:
[Question posed to Minister Zuma] Minister, what are you going to do about the Refugee Reception Centre in Crown Mines after the South Gauteng High Court decision saying it should close down? What arrangements will be made to move the centre?
[Response from Minister Zuma] We have to accept the law. Yes, I am aware of the court order. If the law says...
7 April 2011
Environmental and rights groups said yesterday that separate and unequal environmental rules for mines were “no longer defensible”. The organisations complained that they were being sidelined from early efforts to overhaul mining laws.
The 13 groups, including Lawyers for Human Rights, WWF South Africa and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, said the existing rules gave inadequate...
29 March 2011
Pretoria News I Zelda Venter I
A father from Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, will on Tuesday turn to the Pretoria High Court for an urgent order to have his two small children returned to him after claims that social services removed the children after his wife died, because he had not yet paid all his lobola. The man, who cannot be identified to protect his children, filed papers against the...
18 March 2011
Financial Mail I Zweli Mokgata I Sex workers are protected by one law but can be prosecuted under another.
After a recent court ruling, sex workers now enjoy protection under the Labour Relations Act. However, they can still be prosecuted under the Sexual Offences Act for plying their trade.
The case that brought about this situation is related to a 2006 incident involving a sex worker referred...
17 March 2011
URGENT CALL FOR SOUTH AFRICAN ENDORSEMENT OF THE “JOINT STATEMENT ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY” AT THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL BY AFRICAN ORGANISATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Department of International Relations and Cooperation
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
Republic of South Africa
16 March 2011
Dear...