Programme News
22 July 2010
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (“LHR”) will be approaching the High Court today at 14h00 on an urgent basis to seek an order requiring the Tshwane Municipality to immediately supply temporary shelter for the victims of an unlawful and inhumane eviction which took place yesterday, 21 July 2010.
On 21 July 2010 the Tshwane Municipality destroyed 80 shacks in Pretoria East next to the...
26 June 2010
(News)
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is pleased to announce that David Cote, head of the strategic litigation unit at the leading human rights organisation Lawyers for Human Rights, South Africa will observe the bail application in the matter of The State versus Farai Maguwu in the High Court of Zimbabwe from 16-17th June 2010. Mr Farai Maguwu, a respected human rights defender was...
17 May 2010
(News)
NIC DAWES | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - May 14 2010 16:26
The office of the presidency is claiming an unprecedented degree of executive privilege in an effort to prevent the Mail & Guardian from gaining access to a report commissioned by former president Thabo Mbeki.
The North Gauteng High Court will on Monday 24 May hear argument in the M&G's court bid to obtain the report by Deputy...
10 May 2010
(Press release)
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcomes today’s acquittal of Deputy Agriculture Minister-Designate and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Treasurer-General, Senator Roy Bennett on spurious charges of insurgency, banditry, terrorism and sabotage leveled against him last October.
On Monday 10 May 2010 High Court Judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu freed Bennett after ruling that the...
6 May 2010
(Press release)
The municipal bylaws which have been promulgated specifically for the soccer world cup in host cities come into operation on 7 May 2010 and will remain in effect until 15 August 2010. Lawyers for Human Rights (“LHR”) has been monitoring the implementation of these bylaws and remains concerned about the potential for abuse of these bylaws by municipal officials and, in particular...
19 March 2010
(Press release)
The Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday 17th March ordered the immediate release of a family of eight asylum seekers who fled the Taliban in Afghanistan, after more than four months in detention and numerous attempts by Home Affairs to illegally return them to Afghanistan. The two parents, their five minor children, and the oldest daughter’s fiancé, also a minor, were arrested...
1 March 2010
(Press release)
In the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Rabie J today endorsed the eviction of approximately 300–400 individuals occupying Portion 25 of the farm of Mooiplaats, Itireleng. The court ordered that the abovementioned property, owned by Golden Thread Limited, be vacated by 29 March 2010.
The court highlighted among other factors: the violation of Golden Thread’s property...
25 February 2010
(Press release)
The Supreme Court of Appeal gave a scathing rebuke to the Department of Home Affairs on Wednesday and ordered the immediate release of an Ethiopian asylum seeker who has been detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre for more than 275 days.
The appellant is an ethnic Oromo who was in prison in Ethiopia because of his role as an Oromo Liberation Front political activist. He first sought...
15 February 2010
(News)
NINE-year-old Pule Mahese and his family have been sleeping under the stars in Bremmer Street, Claremont, for the past two weeks since their shack was demolished by a service provider of the Tshwane Metro Council, but they may soon have a roof over their head again. In spite of sleeping out in the open, little Pule has not missed a single day of school at Tuinerand Primary, which he...
8 February 2010
(News)
DESPONDENT parents will turn to the Pretoria High Court in a bid to force the Limpopo MEC for education to reopen a farm school which was forced to close its doors after 47 years. The parents are all farm workers and parents of children who, up until the end of last year, attended the Seribane Primary School on the farm Marakeli in Limpopo. The farm belongs to South African National Parks....