All news items
22 October 2013
More than 170 foreign nationals in Limpopo whose spaza shops have been closed by police in the past few months - as they do not have trading licences or say they have found it impossible to obtain these from local authorities - have failed in their bid to get the Pretoria High Court to come to their aid.
Judge Natvarlal Ranchod turned down the application by the Somali Association of South Africa...
22 October 2013
Displaced residents of the Schubart Park flats in Pretoria central say they are unhappy with the rate at which the City of Tshwane is relocating them following a Constitutional Court order.
On Monday Albert Mashimbye, chairman of the Schubart Park Residential Committee, said some people who were forcibly moved from the dilapidated complex were still out in the cold.
"The timeframe is the...
22 October 2013
A "one-sided approach" at the arms deal commission is leaving reams of contestable evidence unchecked and unchallenged, arms deal "critics" say.
The commission is divided into two "phases": phase one consists of evidence mainly given by government officials, including the defence department and former ministers. Phase two consists mainly of arms deal "critics...
15 October 2013
The North Gauteng High Court’s interpretation of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Act has set a precedent, with South African authorities now required to probe allegations of crimes against humanity, even those unconnected to SA.
This is the submission by the national director of public prosecutions (NDPP), who is applying for leave to appeal...
15 October 2013
Three arms deal campaigners who have been subpoenaed to testify before the Seriti Commission of Inquiry have warned that the credibility of the process was in serious danger unless significant changes were made to the way in which the commission operated.
Former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden (author of The Arms Deal) and Hennie van Vuuren (former director of the Institute...
15 October 2013
As the arms deal commission in Pretoria resumes its inquiry this week into the 1999 arms deal, three high-profile witnesses represented by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have raised serious concerns about a lack of openness at the commission.
In a statement on Monday, Paul Holden, Hennie van Vuuren and Andrew Feinstein – who have all published books on the arms deal and Feinstein was an ANC...
14 October 2013
A fully transparent process is required at the Seriti Commission of Inquiry to expose alleged corruption and abuses of power linked to the arms deal, the Right2Know (R2K) campaign said on Monday.
“R2K is concerned by reports of attempts by the Seriti Commission to limit the public's right to know,” the lobby group said in a statement.
“This includes the secrecy...
11 October 2013
The home affairs department will visit farming communities across South Africa to inspect the immigration status of workers, Minister Naledi Pandor told an Agri SA summit on Thursday.
The presence and employment of illegal and undocumented people poses a grave national security risk, Pandor said in Pretoria.
"One of the things I have always argued for is that everyone in South Africa should...
11 October 2013
As the temperature soars past 30° C in the small town of Carolina in Mpumalanga, a lone public tap stands at the entrance of the town hall. Community members use water from the tap to wash their feet under the watchful gaze of a guard. But in the hours preceding a town hall meeting on Wednesday, not a single soul took a sip of the clean-looking water.
Residents streamed in their hundreds into...
7 October 2013
Herbert Baluku spent six years of his adult life in jail and was released from a South African deportation centre only after two urgent court applications. His only “crime” was not being able to prove citizenship of any country.
His plight is but one example of the tribulations faced by over 12 million people worldwide who are forced to live their lives as stateless persons.
The...