Programme News
26 October 2018
(Press release)
After more than 7 years of being closed, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) finally reopened the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office (PE RRO) on the 19th of October 2018.
In 2011, the Director-General (DG) of Home Affairs, Mkuseli Apleni, took the decision to close the PE RRO to new applicants, thereby limiting access to refugee services which in turn caused the majority of the asylum...
16 October 2018
(Press release)
15 October 2018
In an arbitration held in September 2018, the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (the PHSDSBC) ruled that fixed-term employment contracts between Community Health Care Workers (CHWs) and the Gauteng Health Department were concluded in breach of section 198B of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) represented the...
21 September 2018
(Press release)
21 September 2018
On 20 September 2018, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in the matter of Rosemary Hunter v Financial Sector Conduct Authority and Others, which concerned the legality of the so-called “cancellations project” by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (“FSCA”), formerly known as the Financial Services Board. The “cancellations...
29 August 2018
(Press release)
29 August 2018
On 30 August 2018, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will appear at the Constitutional Court on behalf of Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) in the matter of Law Society of South Africa and others v The President of the Republic of South Africa and others, when it will hear arguments on the issue of the President’s participation in the suspension of the...
26 July 2018
(Press release)
Today, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in the matter of Assign Services v NUMSA and Others, which concerns the correct interpretation of section 198A(3)(b) (the “deeming provision”) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1996 (LRA). Section 198A(3)(b) provides that an employee who earns less than the stipulated threshold and is contracted through a Temporary Employment...
25 July 2018
(Press release)
On Thursday 26 July 2018, the Constitutional Court will hand down judgment in the matter of Assign Services v NUMSA and Others, a matter dealing with the proper interpretation of section 198A(3)(b)(i) (the “deeming provision”) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1996 (LRA). Section 198A was one of several amendments made to the LRA in 2014, which aimed at providing protection to...
16 July 2018
(Press release)
16 July 2018
On 12 July 2018, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria handed down judgement in the matter of FNM v the Refugee Appeal Board and Others (Case number 71738/2016), in which Dodson AJ sets out a scathing indictment of the quality of administrative decision-making in South Africa’s asylum seeker process.
The applicant in this matter is an asylum seeker who fled from the...
22 January 2018
(Press release)
22 January 2018- Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) expresses its concern over the announcement on Friday (19 January 2018) by the Cabinet Justice cluster of Operation Fiela II. Operation Fiela I, which took place during heightened xenophobic tensions in 2015, created an environment of fear and saw widespread human rights abuses by police, military and immigration officials. Use of...
12 July 2017
(News)
Internationally ‘labour flexibility’ has been the underlying philosophy guiding state and employer reform of labour markets over the past 20 to 30 years, ostensibly in response to intensified competition caused by globalization. Employers have completely reorganised the employment relation by increasingly using more and more contract or casual labour. In some instances such labour is...
11 July 2017
(Press release)
The Labour Appeal Court handed down a significant decision on 10 July 2017 in the matter of NUMSA v Assign Services and 3 Others. The Court found that sections 198A(3)(b)(i) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) restricts the application of Temporary Employment Services (TES), also known as labour brokers, to genuine temporary employment and protects the rights of placed workers. The effect of the...