Programme News
11 June 2009
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will ask the South Gauteng High Court today (Friday) for the return of a Congolese asylum seeker who was unlawfully deported by the Department of Home Affairs from South Africa last month. LHR had previously brought an urgent application on his behalf to the court for his release from the Lindela Detention Facility only to be informed at court that he had been...
11 June 2009
(News)
THE decision by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to try to evict emerging farmer Veronica Moos again is probably a blessing in disguise.Moos herself, of course, is devastated. After winning a court order to be restored to her farm, she set about securing production credit with the backing of the Gauteng branch of farmers' union AgriSA, and is being assigned a mentor to provide...
9 June 2009
(Press release)
Mr Thulani Maseko, a Swazi human rights lawyer and alumnus of the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, was arrested on Wednesday 3 June and was on 4 June charged with subversive activities under section 5 of the Sedition and Subversive Activities Act (the Act). If convicted, he risks 20 years imprisonment. Mr Maseko was arrested in connection with a statement he made on Workers' Day...
9 June 2009
(News)
Submission by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) to the Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, IDPs and Migrants at the 45th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.
9 June 2009
(Press release)
We, the 40 representatives of African civil society organisations (including the media), the legal profession, other relevant organisations, and concerned individuals and academics (see the list below), participated in a meeting in Cape Town on 11 May 2009 to consider the implications of the African Union's recent decisions on universal jurisdiction and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in...
4 June 2009
(News)
AS THE grieving families of the 63 illegal miners killed in an underground fire gathered at a mortuary in Welkom to identify their loved ones yesterday, a human rights organisation slammed the "inhumane" attitude towards the dead.
The national director of Lawyers for Human Rights, advocate Jacob van Garderen, also bemoaned the fact that the illegal miners, known as zama-zamas, had to...
1 June 2009
(News)
Xingwana has denied impropriety, insisting she played no role in eviction and land-allocation decisions by her officials while she was minister of land and agriculture. Xingwana launched the group, Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (Ward), soon after taking over the portfolio in 2006.
She has been a vocal champion of Ward ever since, frequently sharing the same podium with its...
27 May 2009
(News)
By Barry Bateman
A city charity organisation has contingency plans in place to help in the event of next week's widely expected mass eviction of tenants at Schubart Park. Last year the Tshwane Metro Council issued tenants with a May 31 deadline to vacate the building, but has remained mum on what exactly is planned on June 1 if the flats are not vacated.
"If this happens the council will...
27 May 2009
(News)
The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday ordered the government to restore land to a black farmer evicted last month under its controversial "use it or lose it" policy. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria yesterday ordered the government to restore land to a black farmer evicted last month under its controversial "use it or lose it" policy. The case was brought...
26 May 2009
(Press release)
Today the NorthGauteng High Court ordered the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) to return thefarm previously allocated to and occupied by Ms. Veronica Moos. Ms VeronicaMoos was allocated the farm under PLAS (Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy) in2007. The strategy was implemented by the DLA and aimed to redistribute landfor agricultural purposes and assist emerging farmers. Despite MsMoos's...