Programme News
2 July 2014
(News)
Even the most apathetic South African could rattle off a couple of coherent sentences on the arms deal masquerading as the War on Terror when pressed to do so over dinner.
And anyone with half an eye on world developments could add something intelligible about the arming and disarming of Muammar Gaddafi, and the merciless war in Libya.
It seems trite to say these arms deals were highly publicised...
27 June 2014
(News)
The annual global trends report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) paints a very bleak picture.
The number of people forced to flee their homes across the world has exceeded 50‑million for the first time since World War II, an exponential rise that is stretching host countries and aid organisations to breaking point, according to figures released last week....
27 June 2014
(News)
On the first of April next year, the South African Police Service (SAPS) will commemorate 20 years as a democratic police service – but sadly it has not always lived up to public expectations of democratic policing. In the past decade, especially, increasing levels of corruption, criminality and brutality have seriously tarnished the SAPS’s image.
Incidents such as the killing in...
26 June 2014
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights have been interviewed on SABC Newsroom about the violence witnessed at the Marabastad refugee reception office in Pretoria last week and outcome of a statelessness case.
23 June 2014
(News)
Treated like scum
As the world celebrated Refugee Day last week , security guards - employed by the Department of Home Affairs - sjambokked and pepper- sprayed asylum-seekers in Marabastad.
The department has stopped refugee reception offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth from registering new asylum claims. The only offices that take on new claims are in Marabastad, Durban, Musina...
22 June 2014
(News)
Gangsters and wardens are still smuggling dagga, heroin and crack cocaine, criminals are still hiding knives and sharpened objects in the “mineshaft” and inmates are stockpiling condoms for sex.
That’s according to an inmate who sent SMSes to CityPress from inside the prison just a week after we exposed an orgy of corruption, smuggling and rape in Leeuhof, and...
20 June 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is disturbed by the increasing number of incidents of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa.
On the eve of World Refugee Day on 20 June, LHR would like to express deep concern about the inhumane treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers at refugee reception offices across the country. On Thursday (19 June), LHR witnessed first-hand the violence...
19 June 2014
(News)
Lawyers want access to arms deal docs
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) needs access to key evidence in the Seriti Commission of Inquiry to help the commission, it said on Wednesday.
“It is important to note that these documents are vital in enabling us to prepare properly to give our evidence during phase II of the hearings, expected to begin in July,” LHR said in a statement.
“...
18 June 2014
(Press release)
Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren, represented by Lawyers for Human Rights, have responded to Judge Willie Seriti’s request for a detailed list of documents and evidence that has, so far, not been delivered by the Arms Procurement Commission despite numerous appeals.
Repeated requests for documents
During the cross-examination of former finance minister Trevor Manuel on...
15 June 2014
(News)
Don’t expect fireworks when Thabo Mbeki takes the stand at the arms deal inquiry. During the recent Arms Procurement Commission hearings in Pretoria, his former colleagues have presented a united front, telling the commission that the 1999 arms deal arose from legitimate defence policy, the equipment was essential, the deal was subject to public oversight, and it was fair and...