Programme News
6 December 2011
(Press release)
Today the Constitutional Court handed down a unanimous judgment in the matter of Nthabiseng Pheko and the Occupiers of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement versus the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. The Court found that the actions of the Municipality, in forcibly removing the residents of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement and demolishing their homes without a Court order, allegedly as a...
1 December 2011
(News)
IN A strongly worded judgment, the Supreme Court of Appeal has affirmed the principles governing legal protection for asylum seekers in SA and censured a high court acting judge for flouting the "fundamental rules of litigation". While the government has often come in for heavy criticism by the courts for how it handles immigrants and asylum seekers, it is unusual for a judge to...
5 October 2011
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights is disappointed with today’s decision by the Constitutional Court to dismiss leave to appeal on behalf of the residents of the Schubart Park flats in Pretoria. As hundreds of families struggle to secure emergency accommodation and the City of Tshwane continues to remove the residents’ belongings in the absence of any Court order or legal mechanism...
25 September 2011
(Press release)
Schubart Park Residents Spend Weekend on Streets Despite City’s Promises
The evicted residents of Schubart Park spent the weekend on the streets of Pretoria after the City of Tshwane failed to fulfill its promises to provide alternative accommodation to them.
Residents were allowed into the buildings for a brief period to collect their belongings, but then spent the rest of...
23 September 2011
(Press release)
LAWYERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS PRESS RELEASE
23 SEPTEMBER 2011
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) brought an urgent High Court application last night (Thursday 22 September 2011) on behalf of the residents of the Schubart Park B Building in the Pretoria city centre. The residents had been removed from the building after fires were lit during a protest against the lack of water and electricity for the past...
23 September 2011
(News)
SA MAY not extradite suspects to a country where they might face the death penalty unless that country has given an assurance that they would not be sentenced to death, a court held yesterday. The full bench judgment of the South Gauteng High Court is a strong affirmation of the constitutional right to life and emphasises that preserving good relations with other states cannot come...
14 September 2011
(Press release)
On Thursday, 15 September 2011 the Constitutional Court will hear the direct appeal of Nthabiseng Pheko and the Occupiers of Bapsfontein Informal Settlement and the Ekhuruleni Municipality. LHR has brought this appeal on behalf of the residents of this informal settlement who were forcibly removed in terms of disaster management legislation avoiding the protections against evictions which...
12 September 2011
(Press release)
On Tuesday, 13 September 2011 the Constitutional Court will hear an appeal brought by Lawyers for Human Rights on behalf of the occupants of two neighbouring portions of the farms Mooiplaas and Skurweplaas in Tshwane. The two matters were joined by the Constitutional Court and will be heard simultaneously and on an expedited basis.
At the centre of the dispute is the Itireleng Informal...
8 September 2011
(News)
BACKYARDERS who have spent winter in tents on city-owned land in Mitchell’s Plain say they would rather live on an exposed field than go to Blikkiesdorp where the city intends to move them.
The sentiment was expressed by backyarders standing outside the Cape High Court on Tuesday last week as Judge Nathan Erasmus heard their appeal brought by Lawyers for Human Rights – against an...
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...