All Press Releases
30 November 2018
Judge Norman Davis handed down judgment today in the Pretoria High Court, in the contempt application brought by Lawyers for Human Rights against the Minister of Defence, the Chief of the SA Army and the Officer Commanding Marievale base.
Judge Norman Davis began with a repetition of the introduction to the original judgment of 9 May 2018:
“This is yet another one of those cases where...
28 November 2018
Lawyers for Human Rights is pleased to note the ground-breaking judgment handed down today by the Supreme Court of Appeal in favour of the Grootkraal Community.
The judgment paves the way for other historically disadvantaged communities, who have used private land for a significant time, to be allowed to register this use against the title deed. This has the result that any sale of the...
21 November 2018
Today marks a year after about 150 civilian families that had been residing in old houses of a defunct military base known as Marievale village were violently and unlawfully evicted from their homes by armed soldiers late in 2017 leading up to the festive season. On 9 May 2018, Judge Norman Davis granted an order declaring the evictions illegal and ordering that the evicted families be restored...
14 November 2018
JOINT PRESS RELEASE by
Centre for Child Law, Lawyers for Human Rights, the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, the UCT Refugee Law Clinic
For immediate release – 14 November 2018
The Department of Home Affairs has published its proposed new regulations to the Births and Deaths Registration Act and is calling for the discontinuation of the issuing of birth...
31 October 2018
On 26 November 2018, the Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will appear in the Cape High Court, sitting as an Equality Court, on behalf of Jade September in the matter of September v Subramuny N.O., Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and Others. LHR will argue that the prison system has singled her out, harassed, and unfairly discriminated against her for expressing her gender identity,...
30 October 2018
Today the 30th of October 2018 the Constitutional Court of South Africa handed down a unanimous judgment in the case of Mantshabelle Mary Rahube v Hedsrine Rahube confirming the judgment from the High Court declaring Section 2 (1) of the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act 112 of 1991 (ULTRA) as unconstitutional
The High Court case sought to have Mary declared the owner of the property and...
29 October 2018
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will appear at the Constitutional Court on Thursday 1 November 2018 to challenge the Department of Home Affairs’ interpretation of the provisions of the Refugees Act that relate to exclusion from refugee status.
Mr Ruta a national from Rwanda arrived in South Africa in December 2014 and attempted to apply for asylum in February and March 2015. However,...
26 October 2018
After more than 7 years of being closed, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) finally reopened the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (PE RRO) on the 19th of October 2018.
In 2011, the Director-General (DG) of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, took the decision to close the PE RRO to new applicants, thereby limiting access to refugee services which in turn caused the majority of the asylum...
25 October 2018
Today the Constitutional Court handed down a judgement on the matter between the Lesethleng Village Community and the Pilanesburg Platinum Mine (PPM). Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) represented the Lesethleng Village Community in an application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court against an eviction order granted by the North West High Court in favour of Pilanesburg Platinum Mine (PPM...
23 October 2018
On 10 February 2017, a group of about 287 informal traders from Mamelodi Denneboom Metrorail station obtained a court order in their favour against the City of Tshwane and Isibonelo Property Services (the developers of the new mall at Denneboom station worth R850 m). The order was sought on an urgent basis after the City and Isibonelo had embarked on an aggressive constructive eviction of the...