Programme News
22 October 2013
(News)
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
(News)
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
(News)
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
(News)
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...
15 October 2013
(News)
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...
14 October 2013
(Press release)
The Arms Deal is the most significant scandal – both politically and economically – of the post-apartheid era. Not only has it dominated news cycles and formed the subject of numerous books, it has been directly responsible for the emasculation of Parliament, the inappropriate politicisation of the prosecuting authority and the outright destruction of the Directorate of Special...
14 October 2013
(News)
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
(News)
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
(Press release)
A mental health and HIV pilot project has been launched by the UNHCR in partnership with Lawyers for Human Rights and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Torture to provide a holistic support to refugees and asylum-seekers with mental health illnesses.
The project, aiming to address the needs of people with mental health problems and improve the mental well-being of refugees in Gauteng, will...
11 October 2013
(News)
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...