Programme News
9 December 2011
(News)
by Pierre De Vos
It is not surprising that section 26 of the Bill of Rights has become one of the sections most often invoked in cases being argued before the Constitutional Court. In a country in which many people do not have access to formal housing, one in which the property rights of some force many poor and destitute people to act in an unlawful manner, one in which such people often have...
9 December 2011
(News)
THE Constitutional Court yesterday ruled in favour of the occupiers of private land near Pretoria who would have been rendered homeless had their evictions been carried out without the City of Tshwane being ordered to provide alternative accommodation.
The cases involved two appeals against eviction judgments by the North Gauteng High Court. In the first judgment, the court ordered...
7 December 2011
(Press release)
Today the Constitutional Court delivered two unanimous judgments in favour of the occupants of Mooiplaats and Skurweplaas, located adjacent to the Itireling informal settlement in Pretoria. Lawyers for Human Rights acted on behalf of the occupiers who were to be rendered homeless, as a result of an eviction order granted by the North Gauteng High Court. Leave to appeal the High Court judgments...
6 December 2011
(Press release)
Today the Constitutional Court handed down a unanimous judgment in the matter of Nthabiseng Pheko and the Occupiers of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement versus the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. The Court found that the actions of the Municipality, in forcibly removing the residents of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement and demolishing their homes without a Court order, allegedly as a...
5 October 2011
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is disappointed with today’s decision by the Constitutional Court to dismiss leave to appeal on behalf of the residents of the Schubart Park flats in Pretoria. As hundreds of families struggle to secure emergency accommodation and the City of Tshwane continues to remove the residents’ belongings in the absence of any Court order or legal mechanism...
25 September 2011
(Press release)
Schubart Park Residents Spend Weekend on Streets Despite City’s Promises
The evicted residents of Schubart Park spent the weekend on the streets of Pretoria after the City of Tshwane failed to fulfill its promises to provide alternative accommodation to them.
Residents were allowed into the buildings for a brief period to collect their belongings, but then spent the rest of...
23 September 2011
(Press release)
LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRESS RELEASE
23 SEPTEMBER 2011
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) brought an urgent High Court application last night (Thursday 22 September 2011) on behalf of the residents of the Schubart Park B Building in the Pretoria city centre. The residents had been removed from the building after fires were lit during a protest against the lack of water and electricity for the past...
14 September 2011
(Press release)
On Thursday, 15 September 2011 the Constitutional Court will hear the direct appeal of Nthabiseng Pheko and the Occupiers of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement and the Ekhuruleni Municipality. LHR has brought this appeal on behalf of the residents of this informal settlement who were forcibly removed in terms of disaster management legislation avoiding the protections against evictions which...
12 September 2011
(Press release)
On Tuesday, 13 September 2011 the Constitutional Court will hear an appeal brought by Lawyers for Human Rights on behalf of the occupants of two neighbouring portions of the farms Mooiplaas and Skurweplaas in Tshwane. The two matters were joined by the Constitutional Court and will be heard simultaneously and on an expedited basis.
At the centre of the dispute is the Itireleng Informal...
8 September 2011
(News)
BACKYARDERS who have spent winter in tents on city-owned land in Mitchell’s Plain say they would rather live on an exposed field than go to Blikkiesdorp where the city intends to move them.
The sentiment was expressed by backyarders standing outside the Cape High Court on Tuesday last week as Judge Nathan Erasmus heard their appeal brought by Lawyers for Human Rights – against an...