Programme News
23 February 2012
(News)
Is SA revisiting its commitment against the death penalty? The government’s appeal to the Constitutional Court tomorrow suggest so.
KAAJAL RAMJATHAN-KEOGH and DAVID COTE
Published: 2012/02/22 07:52:28 AM
IS SA revisiting its commitment against the death penalty? The...
22 February 2012
(Press release)
The South African Government is appealing a High Court judgment that two Botswana nationals could not be deported or extradited to stand trial in Botswana - where they face the death penalty if convicted - without the requisite assurance that the death penalty will not be imposed or carried out under any circumstances.
Lawyers for Human Rights brought this case for Emmanuel Tsebe and Jerry...
16 February 2012
(Press release)
The High Court in Port Elizabeth today handed down a judgment in which it declared the Department of Home Affairs’ decision to close the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office to be unlawful and ordered that it be re-opened and maintained for all refugees and asylum seekers, including new applicants for asylum.
On 20 October 2011, Home Affairs publicly announced that the PE Refugee...
16 February 2012
(Press release)
On the 14th of February 2012, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Centre for Environmental Rights, on behalf of 18 organisations linked to the Mining, Environment and Community Alliance, wrote to Mrs Edna Molewa, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs where the Minister was urged to address the operation of mines without requisite water use licences acting with impunity exacerbating...
15 February 2012
(News)
Johannesburg - The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the Zimbabwean Exiles Forum (ZEF) have launched a landmark case in the North Gauteng High Court to compel South Africa to abide by its legal obligations to investigate and prosecute high level Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity.
SALC and ZEF are asking the...
9 February 2012
(Press release)
The High Court in Port Elizabeth today heard legal arguments regarding the lawfulness of the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (“PE RRO”). The office was closed to new asylum seekers on 21 October 2011 after only one day’s notice to local service providers and the refugee community.
The PE RRO has been open since the coming into operation of the...
9 February 2012
(Press release)
LHR welcomes the decision by the Constitutional court to dismiss an application for leave to appeal brought by the Department of Home Affairs. In a 2011 Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision which dealt with the protection of newly arrived asylum seekers, the SCA held that asylum seekers cannot be prevented from applying for asylum after being arrested. Once a person has declared their...
6 February 2012
(News)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will today challenge the new rules pertaining to judicial reviews in terms of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, says a report in The Mercury. The application in the North Gauteng High Court has been brought against the Rules Board for Courts of Law, who made the new rules, as well as against the Justice Minister, who approved the rules. The Rules Board...
3 February 2012
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), with the financial support of Legal Aid South Africa, has brought a challenge to the new rules of judicial review, which application will be heard in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday 6 February 2012.
The application has been brought against the Rules Board for Courts of Law, who drafted the rules, and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional...
30 January 2012
(News)
The Mhlanganisweni community, who has lodged a land claim against world-renowned game reserve MalaMala, received help from an unexpected source recently: their neighbours. Private game reserve Londolozi, whose own land is also under claim, agreed to manage the community’s proposed new eco-business on MalaMala. In addition Londolozi promised an investment of R75 million to the community...