Programme News
6 May 2015
(News)
The Department of Home Affairs has presented a number of reasons why it believed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s) order that it must reopen the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office by July 1 was incorrect.
The department has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the SCA’s order made on March 25.
Refugee reception offices provide services to those who want to...
6 May 2015
(News)
A Supreme Court of Appeal order that it the Port Elizabeth refugee reception office be reopened by July 1 is incorrect and an unwarranted intrusion into the executive domain, says the Department of Home Affairs.
The department has applied to the Constitutional Court to set aside the court’s order made on March 25.
Refugee reception offices provide services to those who want to apply for...
29 April 2015
(News)
The recent surge of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa has raised fears that South Africans abroad may be at risk of similar violence. These fears have some basis as the media has reported incidents in Mozambique of the stoning of South African trucks and expressions of concern raised by foreign governments and international institutions such as the African Union.
These reactions...
29 April 2015
(News)
ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe suggested that refugee camps are the solution, despite South Africa having signed a UN agreement to protect foreign nationals. Judge Dennis Davis is joined by Patricia Erasmus, Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman and Dr Zweli Mkhize.
25 April 2015
(News)
Reymond Mapakata was on his bicycle earlier this week, pedaling his way toward this city’s central business district. A few days before he’d received a phone call about a Zimbabwean furniture maker who’d been attacked by a South African mob, and Mapakata was on his way to investigate.
It was not a straightforward mission. First there was a detour via Park Station, where police...
22 April 2015
(Press release)
In the face of violence that has targeted foreign nationals across South Africa over the past few weeks, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) recognises the duty of authorities to adopt an effective national strategy aimed at aligning their immigration policy with regional and international human rights provisions in order to prevent and redress...
22 April 2015
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights and the International Federation for Human Rights are calling on the government to reinforce their human rights-based legal framework in order to prevent and redress human rights violations against migrants.
Last week, in scenes reminiscent of 2008, xenophobic violence sparked off in Durban before spreading to other parts of the country.
Foreign nationals were attacked...
21 April 2015
(News)
Luc, a Congolese hairdresser, says that while he fears the wave of anti-foreigner attacks gripping South Africa, his main concern is fending off harassment from the people who are supposed to protect him: the police.
Luc, a wiry 38-year-old, said that every few weeks the police stop him on the street, ask for proof he’s in the country legally, and often demand a 50 rand ($4) bribe if he...
21 April 2015
(News)
Xenophobia doesn’t exist in isolation. It needs social problems and economic hardship to flourish. After an upsurge in violence in Durban and Johannesburg that has claimed seven lives and forced more than 5,000 people to flee their homes, here’s a look at South Africa’s long history of xenophobia and some of the misconceptions that have been allowed to take root.
All about the...
21 April 2015
(News)
My President confuses me.
On the 14th of April 2015, President Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa said during his speech at the inaugural ceremony of the new Sefako Magatho Health Sciences University, previously the Medical University of South Africa: “If you serve the country and you are patriotic‚ you will do a lot. Patriotic South Africans will stand up and do what he or...