Programme News
11 November 2015
(News)
Home affairs maintained there were sufficient protections under the Immigration Act.
Judgment has been reserved in Lawyers for Human Rights’ constitutional challenge against the manner in which suspected undocumented foreigners are detained under Section 34 of the Immigration Act.
LHR filed the challenge in the High Court in Pretoria in June after the introduction of new immigration...
10 November 2015
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) is pleased with the Constitutional Court’s dismissal of an application by the Department of Home Affairs against a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that it reopen the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (RRO), bringing an end to a long-running litigation battle.
This means Home Affairs must adhere to the SCA ruling and reopen the office. They will have three...
28 September 2015
(Press release)
The organisers of the Unite against Corruption march invite all media to an urgent final press conference before we march on Wednesday, 30 September.
The broad spectrum of coalition members will be present and will include trade unions, faith-based organisations, students and civil society. Four senior representatives from each of these constituencies will be available at the press conference....
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...