Programme News
21 September 2015
(Press release)
Civil society organisations endorsing the Unite Against Corruption marches on 30 September in Pretoria and Cape Town invite media to a briefing on Tuesday 22 September that will highlight the extent to which corruption affects the work of civil society, and the reasons for participating in these marches to register the broad dissent against those involved in corrupt practices.
Organisations...
17 September 2015
(Press release)
The People’s Coalition Against Xenophobia calls for Angolans who have been legally living in South Africa with refugee status for many years to be allowed to regularise their stay in the country.
In April 2013 the South African government agreed to implement a cessation of refugee status for Angolans. Following a recommendation from the UNHCR, the South African government agreed that...
2 September 2015
(News)
On April 15 of this year, Themba Maphosa awoke to news that five immigrants had been killed by South African gangs the previous night in Durban. A month earlier, the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini shouted at a rally that "foreigners must pack their bags and go home." A wave of violence soon engulfed the country. South Africans remembered similar violence in the country in 2008 when...
31 August 2015
(News)
It is not a very likely place to find the cause of a potential diplomatic squabble, the makeshift bedroom in a kitchen stacked to the roof with cooldrink crates in one of the less affluent parts of Durban. Nor does journalist António Capalandanda, with his dreadlocks and soft, halting voice, seem the kind of figure who could cause trouble between nations.
But looks can be deceiving. At the...
28 August 2015
(News)
THE Department of Home Affairs has never been particularly efficient. Recent events have confirmed that its traditional weaknesses have not been addressed, while showing that new problems have developed, particularly in relation to how foreigners and, above all, migrants are being treated.
With a view to resolving the impasse, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is now leading an interministerial...
21 August 2015
(News)
The Constitutional court has passed a judgment ordering the Port Elizabeth Home Affairs to reopen the Refugee Reception Office saying the closure was unlawful.
Lawyers for Human Rights say this judgment will go a long way to ensuring refugees are protected under international law.
Despite a Constitutional Court judgment for the Home Affairs to reopen the Reception Office, it remained closed for...
19 August 2015
(News)
The fifth annual Public Interest Law Gathering (PILG) was held at the University of the Witwatersrand last month, and provided South African lawyers and civil society with an opportunity to reflect on issues affecting the public interest sphere and to discuss ways in which the law can be used as a tool for social change.
As in all previous years, the event featured fascinating discussions on...
12 August 2015
(News)
The Department of Home Affairs said it will comply with the Constitutional Court's order to re-open the refugee centre in Port Elizabeth.
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Refugee Rights Centre challenged the closure of centre in the High Court in February 2012 and won the case in 2013.
The department appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal which ruled against it.
The closure...
11 August 2015
(News)
On Wednesday, the Constitutional court dismissed an application by the department of home affairs to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment that declared its decision to close the Port Elizabeth refugee office unlawful.
This means that the SCA judgment stands.
Asylum seekers and people wishing to be granted refugee status have to apply for in person at a refugee office, such as the one...