Programme News
27 November 2012
(Press release)
The Constitutional Court has argued that it is the duty of local authorities to be sensitive and communicative with the communities over which they preside while hearing arguments on the Rustenburg municipality’s failure to properly accommodate residents of the Tlabane women’s hostel during supposed upgrades to their properties.
The case deals with 22 Rustenburg women and their...
21 November 2012
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have secured an important settlement in the Marlboro Gardens eviction case after the Constitutional Court ruled that the City of Johannesburg must provide land and building materials to evicted residents.
LHR turned to the Constitutional Court in a bid to have the City re-establish housing for residents who were illegally evicted in August. “This is...
12 October 2012
(Press release)
Today the Mokopane Interested and Affected Community Committee (“MIACC”) represented by Lawyers for Human Rights challenged an interim interdict of Ivanplat Resources against the entire community of Kgobudi (part of the Mokopane). Ivanplat obtained an interim order against the Kgobudi in May this year, interdicting and restraining any member of the Kgobudi community from entering an...
3 August 2012
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has taken instructions today from the residents of Marlboro Gardens to oppose the illegal eviction conducted by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD).
On Thursday 2 August 2012, over 100 officers of the JMPD entered the area and forcibly evicted the residents from the area. Some of the residents had been living there for seven years....
11 June 2012
(News)
Court nod for them to build in posh area: GROUP of informal dwellers living in a shanty town in Moreleta Park, informally known as Plastic View, has won the right not to only stay – but to build houses in one of the city’s most affluent areas.
PICTURE: PHILL MAGAKOE Squatters in Moreleta Park have been given the nod to build homes in one of the most affluent areas of the city,...
3 May 2012
(News)
THE decision by the Tshwane Metro Council to implode the problematic Schubart Park flats has been put on hold, pending an application to the Constitutional Court by the tenants to return to their homes. Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) was geared up to approach the Pretoria High Court today for an urgent application to halt the implosion of the building pending the final outcome of an application...
22 March 2012
(News)
The Tshwane Metro Council and the police are facing a R30.8 million damages claim relating to the eviction of Schubart Park flats residents in November. Lawyers acting for the evicted families have issued the council a letter of demand in which they are claiming R100 000 each on behalf of 308 clients.
The amount of damages could increase, as it was made clear in the letter this week that the...
30 January 2012
(News)
The Mhlanganisweni community, who has lodged a land claim against world-renowned game reserve MalaMala, received help from an unexpected source recently: their neighbours. Private game reserve Londolozi, whose own land is also under claim, agreed to manage the community’s proposed new eco-business on MalaMala. In addition Londolozi promised an investment of R75 million to the community...
12 January 2012
(News)
The Constitutional Court has ruled that parents of children who have been removed from their care by the state will now have access to an automatic review of that decision.
Child rights advocates say this will help fill a "lacuna" or loophole in the Children's Act that has in the past made it difficult for disenfranchised families to challenge state officials who have wrongfully...
15 December 2011
(News)
In recent months the judiciary has come under attack for being anti-transformative. Yet the Constitutional Court’s most recent judgments reveal its true transformative credentials. They also reveal the transformative potential of the judiciary generally. The violent dispossession wrought by colonialism and apartheid left millions of people without secure access to land. We continue to...