Programme News
28 August 2014
(News)
Three arms deal critics and phase two witnesses, Andrew Feinstein, Hennie Van Vuuren and Paul Holden, have pulled out of the arms deal commission, citing “fatal concerns” with the way the commission has been run.
The three, represented at the commission by Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), announced their decision on Thursday.
In making the announcement, the three also said they have...
28 August 2014
(Press release)
The Arms Deal was a uniquely damaging moment in our young democratic history. It was concluded after decades of uncontrolled spending on foreign and internal wars by the apartheid regime. From the signing of the contracts in 1999 up to R70 billion of public money continues to be spent on weapons of questionable utility. The country was not and is not facing any meaningful military threat....
28 August 2014
(Press release)
Andrew Feinstein, Paul Holden and Hennie van Vuuren, witnesses whom Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has been representing before the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the 1999 Arms Deal, on Thursday announced they would no longer participate in the Commission and instructed LHR to withdraw from proceedings on their behalf. A letter detailing their decision was delivered to the Commission....
22 August 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights has welcomed the two-year sentencing of the Tshwane metro police officer found guilty of the 2010 kidnapping and assault of six Zimbabwean nationals.
The sentence includes 16 hours of mandatory community service per month and places Steven Ndou under house arrest with strict conditions, finding him unfit to handle a firearm.
“We’re happy to finally have a...
12 August 2014
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) has cautiously welcomed today’s (Tuesday) announcement by the Department of Home Affairs that a new dispensation permit for Zimbabwean nationals will be issued as of 1 January 2015. Applications will be received from 1 October – 31 December 2014 and permits will be valid for a maximum of three years. This will replace the permits issued during the 2010...
11 August 2014
(News)
Given a global platform to explain the successes of the ANC and his government, President Jacob Zuma took his chance at the National Press Club in Washington DC last week. He boasted South Africa’s fifth peace democratic elections, pointed to the rise in middle income earners, and the expansion of foreign companies entering South Africa. Inflation’s been tamed; the Johannesburg Stock...
8 August 2014
(Press release)
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) condemns the statements made by Swazi Prime Minister, Barnabus Sibusiso Dlamini, in which he called on union representatives to “strangle” two civil society activists when they return to Swaziland. Dlamini was addressing Members of Parliament during a debate on his ministry’s performance earlier this week.
Sipho Gumedze, a member...
8 August 2014
(News)
Two advocates who quit as evidence leaders of the arms deal commission two weeks ago have given a damning insight into the inner workings of the investigation.
The 15-page joint letter of resignation by advocates Barry Skinner SC and Carol Sibiya seems to back the view of most critics that the commission is nothing but a cover-up of corruption in the multibillion-rand deal.
Skinner and Sibiya say...
7 August 2014
(News)
That Parliament approved of the arms deal is a line that has been repeated over and over by government witnesses testifying at the Seriti commission of inquiry into the deal. But it is an assertion that is disputed, and that dispute might be formally put to the commission on Thursday in Pretoria.
At the heart of this dispute will be the testimony of Raenette Taljaard, a former parliamentarian for...
1 August 2014
(Press release)
Next week President Obama will host the U.S. – Africa Leaders’ Summit (henceforth the Summit) in Washington, D.C. Although this summit mainly focuses on trade and investment in Africa, the theme is “Investing in the Next Generation” and a number of signature and side events have been organized which appear to acknowledge the role of civil society, women and youth in the...