Strategic Litigation Unit Programme News
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...
25 January 2010
(News)
The South African History Archive and the Southern African Centre for the Survivors of Torture will ask the Pretoria High Court to force the government to release an explosive report on post-election violence in Zimbabwe.
The two bodies, with the support of the Southern African Litigation Centre, last week filed papers in court in which they ask that the presidency be compelled to release the...
15 January 2010
(News)
Johannesburg - Thirty-nine foreign nationals, including mothers with young children, were arrested for loitering in the Johannesburg inner city, police said on Thursday. Inspector Gordon Billing said the people, mostly from Malawi and Zimbabwe, were arrested near the Johannesburg Central Methodist Church and the High Court on Wednesday.
"The Johannesburg central crime prevention made...
7 January 2010
(News)
The government has agreed to let an independent curator assess the circumstances of each unaccompanied minor at the Central Methodist Church before they can be relocated. Since September, when allegations surfaced about the sexual abuse of children at the church, the government has been trying to have the children removed from the church premises, which housed more than 2,000 mostly...
1 December 2009
(Press release)
The residents of the Mamelodi hostel won a victory in the North Gauteng High Court today where the court confirmed the interim order issued on 18 November 2009 and found that the attempted demolition and the removal of the roof from the Mamelodi Hostel unlawful and ordered the Tshwane municipality to resurrect the roof.
On 15 and 16 November 2009, the municipality began to demolish...
26 November 2009
(Press release)
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) will appear today in the North Gauteng High Court to seek an order of contempt of court against officials from the Tshwane municipality who inhumanely and with a wanton disregard for the law, allowed the destruction of the hostel in Mamelodi.
Over the weekend of 14 and 15 November 2009, municipal officials began the destruction of the Mamelodi hostel...
25 November 2009
(News)
The level of crime in South Africa has evidently sent government into emotional bewilderment. This is more so as a result of the violent crimes whose perpetrators are apparently merciless and recognise no boundary. Everyone, excluding the perpetrators and those with whom they act in cahoots, is under siege. Obviously any responsible government would want to do something to curb or rid its...