Programme News
19 February 2014
(News)
Former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein yesterday asked how the truth about South Africa's 1999 R30-billion arms deal could be revealed if vital information was hidden from the public.
Feinstein spoke after Lawyers for Human Rights declined to cross-examine former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin at the Arms Procurement Commission hearings because documents central to his testimony had not been...
19 February 2014
(News)
The declassification and availability of key documents on Tuesday continued to be a stumbling block for the Arms Procurement Commission proceedings.
Lawyers for Human Rights declined to cross-examine former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin, because arms deal contracts had not been made available to its legal team.
The cross-examination of Mr Erwin was set to begin on Monday but was...
19 February 2014
(News)
It has become taboo in much of the world to discriminate against people because of their religion, skin colour or sex. Despite recent setbacks, the same goes for sexual orientation. Gradually we are realising that these are arbitrary distinctions, at least when it comes to law and policy.
Yet one type of discrimination remains rife and accepted across the planet, albeit almost as arbitrary as...
18 February 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights, on the instructions of Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren, on Tuesday was left with no option but to decline the opportunity to cross-examine former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin at the Arms Deal Commission due to lack of access to vital documents central to the witness’s testimony.
Judge Willie Seriti excused Erwin, saying:...
18 February 2014
(News)
The government, with the benefit of hindsight, would have done things differently in trying to create economic growth through the 1998 arms deal, former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin said on Monday.
Testifying at the arms procurement commission, chaired by Judge Willie Seriti, he said: "The policy was not a total success but it was a success in our view and that success was better...
17 February 2014
(News)
As the first senior politician to serve in the Cabinet that signed off on the controversial arms deal prepares to take the stand tomorrow at the Arms Procurement Commission headed by Judge Willie Seriti, a damning audit report reveals just how badly South Africans were conned.
Former trade and industry minister Alec Erwin (pictured) is set to take the stand tomorrow. He is the...
17 February 2014
(News)
The commission has not declassified all the documents before it, and legal teams are still not given adequate time to prepare for cross-examinations.
Monday's brief postponement of proceedings at the arms deal commission exposed two of its most serious flaws. Firstly, that it has not declassified all the documents in evidence. The commission adjourned in August 2013 to deal specifically...
5 February 2014
(News)
The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) wilfully acted in contempt of a court order when it refused to re-admit students evicted from their residences, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), for the students, on Saturday obtained an urgent court order to force TUT to allow students back into residences.
They returned to court this week with a...
5 February 2014
(News)
The hopes of thousands of asylum seekers in the Western Cape have been dashed by Director General of Home Affairs Mkuseli Apleni.
In a memorandum dated 31 January 2014, the DG states the department will not reopen the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (CTRRO), which was the second busiest in the country, nor will it process any applications made after 30 June 2012 at the Cape Town Temporary...
4 February 2014
(News)
The South African Police Service has asked the Constitutional Court to set aside a Supreme Court of Appeal order that international and domestic legislation compelled it to investigate alleged crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe.
The case started in 2008 when the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum sent a docket to the priority crimes litigation unit of the National...