Programme News
27 March 2015
(News)
The Supreme Court of Appeal has severely criticised Home Affairs for ignoring repeated court orders and gave the department until 1 July to reopen the refugee reception office (RRO) in Port Elizabeth.
The court also ordered Home Affairs director general Mkuseli Apleni to report in writing once a month to the Somali Association of South Africa and the Project for Conflict Resolution and...
25 March 2015
(Press release)
In a scathing judgment, the Supreme Court of Appeal has ordered the Department of Home Affairs to reopen the refugee reception office in Port Elizabeth and provide full services by 1 July 2015.
The SCA declared the decision to close the office unlawful and ordered that Home Affairs Director General Mkuseli Apleni deliver monthly reports on steps taken to ensure compliance. The court’s...
25 March 2015
(News)
The municipality agreed to establish a township next to Plastic View, but this would be only for those who qualified for low-cost housing.
In a case that is likely to grapple with the questions of how cash-strapped municipalities should allocate land for low-cost housing, a group of residents in Pretoria East has managed to temporarily halt the auctioning off of the land on which they live.
On...
25 March 2015
(News)
In apartheid South Africa, any white person was entitled to stop a black person and demand that they produce their pass book, which every black person over the age of 16 was required to carry. These pass books were known as dompas, which translates literally as “stupid pass”. The belittling and degrading documents were a means to control the movement of Africans in an appallingly...
25 March 2015
(News)
The scale - and cost - of the task of sorting out and settling restitution claims is staggering.
For those familiar with the mid-1990s land restitution programme, there was a strong sense of déjà vu about press reports on the reopened process: hopeful claimants queuing up to lodge claims, diligent officials working hard to assist them, optimistic managers talking up the systems that...
24 March 2015
(News)
Tuesday’s auction of the City of Tshwane’s land parcels may proceed as planned, but without Woodlane Village, the so-called Plastic View informal settlement.
Lawyers for Human Rights, on behalf of residents, successfully obtained an urgent High Court order against the Tshwane municipality on Monday afternoon.
Judge Legodi Phatudi found that auctioning off the property without a plan...
23 March 2015
(Press release)
The auction planned for the sale of Woodlane Village, also known as Plastic View, in Pretoria has been halted after Lawyers for Human Rights, on behalf of residents, successfully obtained an urgent high court order against the Tshwane municipality.
The land is part of nearly 80 properties meant to go on auction tomorrow (24 March). Over 3 000 people have been living on the land for more than 12...
23 March 2015
(News)
The High Court in Pretoria will rule later today if it should stop the Tshwane Municipality from selling off municipal land, including the notorious Plastic View informal settlement in the East of Pretoria, on a public auction.
Plastic View, also known as Woodlane Village, is amongst the over 70 municipal properties destined to be sold in auction on Tuesday morning. Today Lawyers for Human Rights...
20 March 2015
(Press release)
It is with deep regret that Lawyers for Human Rights in South Africa and Swaziland have heard reports of human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko’s placement into solitary confinement while at Big Bend Prison in Swaziland.
Maseko was put into solitary confinement yesterday (19 March) for having written a letter to friends and colleagues that was subsequently made public, thanking them for their...
19 March 2015
(Press release)
In commemoration of Human Rights Day, Lawyers for Human Rights is hosting a cafe discussion on recent trends of using criminal law to target the poor. Discussions will examine the policies and decisions that exclude marginalised communities and limit their access to public space and services. Increasingly, authorities treat informal traders, beggars and the homeless as a threat to public safety....