Programme News
10 November 2014
(News)
The crux of the case against Chippy Shaik – if such a case exists – is that he was key to influencing the awarding of bids to arms companies. This allegedly resulted in dodgy tender awards at hugely inflated prices – an allegation Shaik has denied.
But you would never know this just by listening to his evidence at the arms deal commission this week.
Shaik, who now lives in Perth...
6 November 2014
(Press release)
LHR is seeking an experienced human rights lawyer to head its Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme, based either in Johannesburg or Pretoria.
6 November 2014
(News)
More than 195,000 Zimbabweans have in recent weeks applied to remain in South Africa under the new Zimbabwe Special Permits dispensation, the home affairs department said Tuesday.
Almost another 50,000 were expected to do so by months’ end.
“In October, we received up to 5000 applications a day and therefore the department is confident that we will reach the target of processing 242,...
6 November 2014
(News)
Shocked MPs heard yesterday that four prison projects worth more than R1bn were still incomplete years after the contracts’ completion dates, due to defaulting contractors engaged by the Department of Public Works.
A delegation led by Department of Correctional Services acting national commissioner Zach Modise told a parliamentary committee that the construction of two prisons and the...
5 November 2014
(News)
The murder of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa predictably led to angry calls for the re-introduction of the death penalty in South Africa. For both principled and practical reasons I do not believe the state should have the power to put to death those found guilty of serious crimes. Here is why.
South Africans who campaign for a re-introduction of the death penalty usually advance one of two...
4 November 2014
(Press release)
UNHCR is today launching a global “I Belong” campaign aimed at ending within 10 years the problem of statelessness – a devastating legal limbo for the millions of people worldwide who lack any nationality and the human rights protections that go with it. The goal of eradicating statelessness is looking increasingly possible thanks to dramatic recent progress in the number...
3 November 2014
(News)
There is “something fundamentally wrong” in the way the home affairs department handles the repatriation of migrants, High Court in Pretoria Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann said on Friday.
“We have had the case of [Khalfan Khamis] Mohamed and the case of Emmanuel Tsebe, now we have the case of Edwin Samotse. Not only is it the same problem, but the failure to protect the...
31 October 2014
(Press release)
Judgment has been reserved in the North Gauteng High Court after the Departments of Home Affairs and International Relations were called to report back to court on the steps taken following the unlawful deportation of Botswana national Edwin Samotse.
Samotse was deported from Polokwane Prison on 13 August this year despite an order of non-surrender from the Minister of Justice. Samotse is charged...
31 October 2014
(News)
JOHANNESBURG, 31 October 2014 (IRIN) - When Elise M’s* 18-year-old daughter tried to kill herself with an overdose of pills last year, the ambulance that Elise called took them to nearby South Rand Hospital, in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosettenville. But nurses at the hospital refused to admit her.
“They pointed to a sign on the wall saying non-South Africans have to pay R5,000...
31 October 2014
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) welcomed the Constitutional Court's order on Thursday that South African police investigate claims of torture against senior Zimbabwean officials.
“We are quite happy that the Constitutional Court has come out so strongly in favour of full implementation of South Africa's Rome Statute Act,” LHR co-ordinator David Cote said in a statement...