All Press Releases
21 September 2015
Civil society organisations endorsing the Unite Against Corruption marches on 30 September in Pretoria and Cape Town invite media to a briefing on Tuesday 22 September that will highlight the extent to which corruption affects the work of civil society, and the reasons for participating in these marches to register the broad dissent against those involved in corrupt practices.
Organisations...
17 September 2015
The High Court in Pretoria has granted an application by Lawyers for Human Rights that individual management members of the Tshwane University of Technology be joined in the contempt of court proceedings against the university.
LHR believes members who led to TUT disobeying an urgent court order allowing evicted students to return during protest action in 2014 should be held personally...
17 September 2015
The People’s Coalition Against Xenophobia calls for Angolans who have been legally living in South Africa with refugee status for many years to be allowed to regularise their stay in the country.
In April 2013 the South African government agreed to implement a cessation of refugee status for Angolans. Following a recommendation from the UNHCR, the South African government agreed that...
15 September 2015
The conviction and six-year prison sentence imposed on José Marcos Mavungo is a travesty of justice and a blatant violation of the right to freedom of expression, association and assembly in Angola, said six human rights organisations today.
The organisations, the South African Litigation Centre (SALC), Lawyers for Human Rights, Front Line Defenders, the International Commission of...
8 September 2015
The next several days in Swaziland — Africa’s last absolute monarchy — will be paramount to determining the prospects for a semblance of democracy and the protection of basic human rights in this little known country of 1.2 million people.
Starting today, Swaziland’s High Court will hear a constitutional challenge to two of the country’s most draconian laws: the...
8 September 2015
Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Edwin Cameron released a report this week on his visit to Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility and Pollsmoor Women’s Correctional Centre. The visit was undertaken in April this year, as part of the Constitutional Court’s prison visiting project, and the report details the “sickening conditions” he and his clerks witnessed.
The Detention...
3 September 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights and Pilanesberg Platinum Mine have reached a settlement that it will immediately halt its activities on a portion of land on Wilgespruit in the North West and restore undisturbed possession of the farm while a dispute over ownership of the land is resolved.
The settlement also entails that fencing on the perimeter will remain intact but gates will be opened to allow...
25 August 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights welcomes judgment in the murder of Daveyton taxi driver Mido Macia which shows that effective and efficient investigations can result in convictions.
LHR is hopeful that this conviction will lead to future investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of excessive violence - particularly when committed by state officials.
Little has been done to bring those involved in...
24 August 2015
Lawyers for Human Rights has launched an urgent high court application to have Pilanesberg Platinum Mines immediately halt all mining activities in Wilgerspruit in the North West and restore possession of the farm.
The urgent matter will be heard in the North West High Court on 3 September 2015. The Lesethleng Village Community, represented by LHR, are seeking full possession, occupation and use...