Programme News
30 August 2011
(News)
Evictions are always a prickly issue and the case due before the Constitutional Court next month is no different.The matter comes weeks after the court reserved judg ment in another case, in which it has to decide whether the City of Johannesburg is responsible for providing temporary housing to residents who have been evicted from buildings that they had occupied illegally.
In March this...
23 August 2011
(Press release)
The Constitutional Court today handed down judgment in which it dismissed the application by the Moutse Demarcation Forum challenging the12th Constitutional Amendment Act which removed the Moutse community from Mpumalanga province and placed it in Limpopo province.
The applicants based their challenge on two main points, firstly that the Act itself was irrational in that it...
23 August 2011
(Press release)
22 AUGUST 2011
The Registrar of the Constitutional Court of South Africa has informed us that the Court will hand down its judgment on Tuesday 23 August 2011 at 10:00am in Johannesburg.
The Moutse community approached the court in 2008 in order to challenge the Constitution 12th Amendment Act of 2005 which moved the community from Mpumalanga province to Limpopo province. The...
15 August 2011
(News)
IOL In what can be hailed as a landmark judgment for hawkers – who are harassed by municipalities in spite of court orders preventing them from doing so – a judge has ordered that a mayor and her municipality pay hefty fines. The municipality also has to pay each hawker R500 in compensation.
The order was given last week by the Mafikeng High Court against the Rustenburg...
9 July 2011
(Press release)
LHR seeks to fill the following vacancies:
Attorney: Pretoria
The Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme seeks a self-motivated admitted attorney with an interest in constitutional and public interest litigation. Good writing and research skills are essential. High Court litigation experience would be an advantage. This is an opportunity to get exposure to international law, work with United...
24 May 2011
(News)
The City of Cape Town’s Anti-Land Invasion Unit established to prevent the illegal occupation of city and provincial land, is acting unlawfully says Lawyers for Human Rights.
LHR lawyer Sheldon Magardie said the unit demolished structures without a court order and he was planning to approach the Cape High Court for an interdict to prevent the city from doing so.
“In our view, the city...
16 March 2011
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights have served letters on the Tshwane Municipality and the South African Police Service (Saps) demanding they come clean on plans for Schubart Park. Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa told Eyewitness News at the State of the City Address, last week, that they plan on clearing out the inner city slum within the next two weeks.
The...
28 January 2011
(Press release)
The Bill is, at best, a partial response to the need to address informal settlement conditions in Limpopo. In focussing on “elimination” and “control” at the expense of upgrading, rapid release of appropriately located land and positive measures to cater for new migrants to urban centres, the Bill does little to address the needs of people currently living in informal...
3 December 2010
(Press release)
Over the past year, the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, has been praised for his energy in tackling the housing crisis. He recently signed service delivery agreements with his nine MECS for Outcome 8 of the presidential outcomes - sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life – and he has been very vocal on what actions will accompany these agreements,...
15 October 2010
(News)
Scores of homeless people living on a piece of land near Moreleta Park have been left without a roof over their head after their structures were destroyed by Joint Venture security guards yesterday. The people said the security guards - also known as the Red Ants - were accompanied by Tshwane Metro Police officers.
The homeless people, some of whom claim they have been living there for more...