Advisory: Zimbabwe torture docket case heads to ConCourt

On Monday, the Constitutional Court will hear arguments in the Zimbabwe torture case, brought by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and Zimbabwean Exiles Forum – represented by Lawyers for Human Rights - to compel South Africa to abide its domestic and international legal obligations to investigate and prosecute high level Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity. 

This is the final stage of the landmark case that began in 2008, when ZEF and SALC handed over a dossier of evidence to the South African National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Police Services, which pointed to state-sanctioned torture in Zimbabwe, following a police raid on the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change in 2007.

In May 2012, the North Gauteng High Court held that South African authorities had not acted in accordance with their obligations under the domestic legislation and ruled that the decision had been taken unlawfully and unconstitutionally.

The matter was taken on appeal by the authorities and in November 2013 the Supreme Court of Appeal also held that SAPS, in particular, are empowered and required to investigate the crimes against humanity detailed in the dossier. SAPS alone appealed the judgment, taking this matter to the Constitutional Court. 

Where: Constitutional Court
When: Monday 19 May at 10:00