Programme News
10 June 2015
(News)
A severe water crisis is leaving the small town of Blyvooruitzicht in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg, high and dry.
The local mining community has been without running water for close to a month because the mine, which is currently being liquidated, owes the municipality close to R200 million in arrears. The matter is now destined for the courts.
One of the residents, Sithembile Sithole'...
9 June 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has launched an urgent high court application on behalf of the Blyvooruitzicht community to have their water supply reconnected.
As reported in recent weeks, water supply was disconnected by the Merafong City Local Municipality and Rand Water last month.
Most members of the community worked for the now-defunct Blyvooruitzicht Mine which was placed under provisional...
29 May 2015
(Press release)
The newly revamped and launched Kutlwanong Democracy Centre (KDC) has undergone a transformation. The KDC, owned by Lawyers for Human Rights, provides a unique hub for civil society in Pretoria, bringing together a range of organisations working in the areas of human rights, social assistance and development.
The opening and revamp of the historically significant KDC was addressed by FIDH...
28 May 2015
(Press release)
For the first time in its history, FIDH has opened an office in Pretoria, South Africa. This office, located in the headquarters of its member organisation in South Africa, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), at the Kutlwanong Democracy Centre (KDC) in Pretoria, will be officially launched on May 29.
“The decision to open an office in South Africa was motivated by the inspirational human rights...
16 February 2015
(News)
She lost her ploughing fields to a mining company for R5250.
Now 96-year-old Raesetja Magongoa from GaMagongoa village in Mokopane, Limpopo, wants answers from Platreef Resources, the company which she claims seized her fields.
People from more than 15 Mokopane villages are expected to march to the Platreef offices today to submit a memorandum of demands.
This will be one of numerous attempts by...
30 January 2015
(News)
An Indian company this week declared its intention to mine in a critical water catchment area in Mpumalanga, just one year after the area was proclaimed a protected area.
Atha-Africa Ventures called a meeting with landowners in the Mabola protected environment, where the company claims to have a right to mine coal.
Mabola is one of five important water sources in Mpumalanga that were proclaimed...
21 January 2015
(News)
Mokopane, Limpopo, is a town on the brink. It’s on the brink of complete political meltdown, after years of factional fighting over corruption among municipal leaders. It could also be on the brink of a newfound prosperity, with a major platinum mine being built on its outskirts – on land previously used for small-scale subsistence farming. Some locals say they weren’t consulted...
13 January 2015
(News)
Raesetsa Makgabo was paid 5,250 South African rand (about $450 U.S.) to allow a Canadian mining company to begin drilling on her maize fields.
The two men took the cash from an envelope, counted it carefully and spread it on the table in front of Raesetsa Makgabo in her village home. It was exactly R5,250.
She says she remembers vividly what the men said next: They told her to take the money...
8 December 2014
(News)
South African police fired rubber bullets to disperse protesters who blocked a highway with rocks and tires near Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN)’s Platreef project to demonstrate against plans to start building the $1.6 billion platinum mine.
Some members of the local community are opposed to the approval of a license that allows billionaire Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe to develop Platreef....
26 November 2014
(Press release)
In a hard-hitting judgement handed down on 26 November 2014, the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered ArcelorMittal South Africa Ltd (AMSA) to release various environmental records to the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), and to pay the communities’ legal costs.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) refused AMSA’s appeal against the September 2013 High Court judgement ordering...