Programme News
8 September 2015
(Press release)
The next several days in Swaziland — Africa’s last absolute monarchy — will be paramount to determining the prospects for a semblance of democracy and the protection of basic human rights in this little known country of 1.2 million people.
Starting today, Swaziland’s High Court will hear a constitutional challenge to two of the country’s most draconian laws: the...
8 September 2015
(Press release)
Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Edwin Cameron released a report this week on his visit to Pollsmoor Remand Detention Facility and Pollsmoor Women’s Correctional Centre. The visit was undertaken in April this year, as part of the Constitutional Court’s prison visiting project, and the report details the “sickening conditions” he and his clerks witnessed.
The Detention...
8 September 2015
(News)
Gauteng MEC for human settlements Jacob Mamabolo is planning to take a test case to court to protect the rights of people evicted from their home.
Mamabolo expressed unhappiness at how women, children and people with a disability were treated during evictions.
"Those residents still have rights. The fact that they are in debt does not mean their rights do not matter. The question is what...
8 September 2015
(News)
Attorney for rights group Lawyers for Human Rights, Louise du Plessis, talked about a test case that is heading to court about the protection of tenants' rights in the event of an eviction order.
7 September 2015
(News)
Forced anti-psychotics and shock therapy are par for the course at the correctional facility.
In scenes from video footage shot inside Mangaung prison, Bheki Dlamini is taken to be allegedly forcibly injected with antipsychotic drugs. (Supplied)
The Mangaung prison in the Free State, run by the beleaguered multinational private security company G4S, is allegedly forcibly injecting inmates with...
7 September 2015
(News)
The North West High Court in Mahikeng has ordered the Pilanesberg Platinum Mines to stop its operations on Wilgespruit 2JQ farm, where community members have resisted payments to move and make way for mining.
Members of the Lesethleng Village Community, represented by lawyers for human rights, approached the high court to intervene.
The lawyers for human rights had lodged an urgent application on...
7 September 2015
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said on Friday that Pilanesberg Platinum Mine “will immediately halt its activities on a portion of land on Wilgespruit” while an ownership dispute is being reolved.
This comes‚ LHR said in a statement‚ after the parties had “reached a settlement”‚ which will also entail perimeter fencing remaining intact‚ “but...
7 September 2015
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said on Friday that Pilanesberg Platinum Mine "will immediately halt its activities on a portion of land on Wilgespruit" while an ownership dispute is being resolved.
This came after the parties had "reached a settlement"‚ which would also entail perimeter fencing remaining intact‚ "but gates will be opened to allow freedom of...
7 September 2015
(News)
The people of the Lesethleng Village paid for their land and are the rightful‚ lawful owners and should be consulted with as such.
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Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said that Pilanesberg Platinum Mine “will immediately halt its activities on a portion of land on Wilgespruit” while an ownership dispute is being reolved.
This comes‚ LHR said in a statement‚ after the...
4 September 2015
(News)
Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron and his law clerks have published a scathing report of Pollsmoor Prison after visiting the remand centre — where awaiting trial prisoners are kept — and the women's centre on 23 April. Some of their findings are consistent with those reported by GroundUp in May.
"Justice Cameron and his law clerks were deeply shocked by what they...