Programme News
14 August 2013
(News)
Several legal organisations and NGOs have opposed a complaint calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
They described the complaint as “ill-considered” in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“The complaint does damage to the much needed project of transformation in the legal profession and threatens to chill the important dialogue about sex, race, sexual...
14 August 2013
(Press release)
The undersigned organisations oppose the recent complaint against the Chief Justice and regard it as ill-considered. The complaint does damage to the much-needed project of transformation in the legal profession and threatens to chill the important dialogue about sex, race, sexual orientation, and gender on the bench, at the bar and side-bar. The Chief Justice's jurisprudence while in this...
13 August 2013
(Press release)
An open letter calling on government to make finances available for the team representing men injured and arrested after the Marikana massacre.
We, the undersigned, call on the government to urgently make financial resources available for the legal team representing the 270 miners injured and arrested following the Marikana massacre on August 16 2012.
The failure to ensure that all interested...
11 August 2013
(News)
The political backlash against Land Minister Gugile Nkwinti might reverse what had seemed a cut-and-dried deal to pay about R1 billion to a multimillionaire game rancher in a controversial land restitution deal.
Sources inside the department said while the minister was still eager to settle, paying R1 billion for one land claim might not be the best political option.
At the same time, Nkwinti was...
6 August 2013
(News)
An affidavit by Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti on the state’s intended purchase of the MalaMala Game Reserve makes it clear the purchase price will be negotiated with the owners based on figures presented to the Land Claims Court.
Mr Nkwinti was reported to have already settled to pay the owners the full market price of R1bn, creating fears that the deal...
5 August 2013
(News)
The government has agreed to pay out more than R1-billion to settle a land claim against one of South Africa's most exclusive game lodges, the five-star Mala Mala reserve in Mpumalanga.
The deal between Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti and multimillionaire lodge owner Michael Rattray will wipe out a vast chunk of the national Land Claims Commission budget for the year. The system was set...
5 August 2013
(News)
Asylum-seekers in Limpopo have accused state organs of having taken away their livelihoods. A year ago, Limpopo police closed down foreign-owned tuckshops in the townships, saying that the asylum-seekers would need to apply for business permits. But the operation was aimed specifically at Ethiopian and Somali spaza shop owners, leaving locally-owned businesses untouched. Most lost everything and...
1 August 2013
(News)
Downtown Johannesburg is no paradise. Some consider it an unfriendly and dilapidated concrete jungle. It is, however, cherished by those who cannot part with memories of better days - and those who call it home.
Thirty or so children call the Central Methodist Church in the heart of the city their home from 6.30am to 6pm every week day. They greet visitors with giddy cheers and screams, each...
30 July 2013
(News)
More than three years since it was introduced in Parliament, the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Bill has received presidential assent - paving the way for a single statute that will address human trafficking holistically and comprehensively, writes Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.
According to a media statement issued yesterday, once in force the Act will make...
28 July 2013
(News)
South Africa’s top advocates are raking in millions, sparking concerns that the conferral of senior counsel status is “tantamount to a licence to print money”.
Several senior advocates and lawyers who spoke to City Press said South Africa’s top advocates charge as much as R45 000 per day.
At a very conservative estimate of only 15 hours of work per week, at R4...