Programme News
21 April 2015
(News)
Xenophobia doesn’t exist in isolation. It needs social problems and economic hardship to flourish. After an upsurge in violence in Durban and Johannesburg that has claimed seven lives and forced more than 5,000 people to flee their homes, here’s a look at South Africa’s long history of xenophobia and some of the misconceptions that have been allowed to take root.
All about the...
21 April 2015
(News)
My President confuses me.
On the 14th of April 2015, President Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa said during his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the new Sefako Magatho Health Sciences University, previously the Medical University of South Africa: “If you serve the country and you are patriotic‚ you will do a lot. Patriotic South Africans will stand up and do what he or...
20 April 2015
(News)
Head of LHR's Strategic Litigation Programme, David Cote, discusses the outbreak of xenophobic violence across South Africa on SABC Question Time.
20 April 2015
(News)
An outbreak of xenophobic violence and looting in the South African city of Durban has left at least five people dead, including a teenage boy.
The government has condemned the attacks, saying South Africans should "hang our heads in shame in the face of these misguided and misplaced assaults".
The country has a long and bloody history of xenophobia, with the recent violence reminiscent...
17 April 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is disturbed and worried by the serious lack of strong and coherent leadership as xenophobic violence continues to spread across the country, reaching crisis point in Durban and displacing thousands of foreign nationals. This is eerily reminiscent of the 2008 attacks that resulted in the death of over 60 people.
We are pleased that President Jacob Zuma has...
17 April 2015
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has expressed grave concern about calls for the establishment of refugee camps in response to the xenophobic violence which continues to spread across the country.
Patricia Erasmus, head of LHR’s Refugee and Migrant Rights programme, said refugee camps would only serve to further alienate this already vulnerable population.
“The policy of encampment...
16 April 2015
(News)
South Africa has one of the world’s best refugee policies but it is not being implemented and the system is tainted by “corruption”, experts say.
They were responding to claims that it was the thousands of undocumented immigrants in Durban who have ignited the xenophobic hatred.
Despite the law and policy ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, on Wednesday said South Africa...
16 April 2015
(News)
South African President Jacob Zuma condemned a wave of attacks against foreigners that has claimed five lives in the past week and said the government would seek to better control immigration.
“No amount of frustration or anger can ever justify attacks on foreign nationals and looting of their shops,” Zuma said Thursday in Parliament in Cape Town. “We condemn the violence in the...
16 April 2015
(News)
Parliament’s portfolio committee on home affairs released a statement last week — titled, Flouting of immigration regulations a concern — in which it warned foreign nationals in SA not to commit crimes and put "in jeopardy the basis on which they are in SA".
The committee quoted instances from the recent mugging of South African Broadcasting Corporation journalists to...
16 April 2015
(News)
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress called on the government to set up refugee camps as a way of stemming a surge of attacks against immigrants, a proposal criticized by human rights groups.
“One of the things the government must look at is the tightening of the management of immigration laws,” Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general of the ANC, said in an interview on...