In the media
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31 October 2014
South African Press Association
The SAPS said on Thursday it will comply with the Constitutional Court's order to investigate claims of torture against senior Zimbabwean officials.
“In principle, this is the end of the matter. We are required to comply with the judgment,” national police spokesman Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale said.
“We only got the judgment today. Our legal team is looking at it.”
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30 October 2014
Business Day
SA’s police must investigate allegations of torture by Zimbabwean authorities in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s 2008 election, the Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered.
The judgment broke new ground in SA’s international law obligations, ruling that even though the alleged torture was committed in Zimbabwe, by Zimbabweans, of Zimbabweans, the South African Police Service had a duty to investigate it.
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30 October 2014
Mail & Guardian Online
The Constitutional Court in a landmark case ruled unanimously that the South African Police Service (SAPS) are obliged to investigate allegations of torture committed in Zimbabwe, which were reported to them.
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21 October 2014
Mail & Guardian Online
Two London-based critics won't testify at the Seriti commission of inquiry, despite the commission saying that it will reissue their subpoenas.
Arms deal critics Paul Holden and Andrew Feinstein will not testify at the arms deal commission, despite the commission’s previous announcement that it would reissue their subpoenas.
It emerged on Monday that Holden’s subpoena never arrived, while Feinstein, through his lawyer, Advocate Geoff Budlender SC, told the commission that it did not have international jurisdiction. Both live in London.
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21 October 2014
Mail & Guardian
Hennie Van Vuuren, author and key critic of the arms deal, has declined to take the oath or give evidence at the arms procurement commission.
Hennie Van Vuuren is currently a researcher at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and co-author of The Devil in the Detail: How the Arms Deal changed everything.
Van Vuuren and co-researchers Paul Holden and Andrew Feinstein withdrew their participation in the commission in August, claiming they were refused access to documentation and labelling the probe a “whitewash”.
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21 October 2014
South African Press Association
Legal action will be taken against arms deal critic Hennie van Vuuren for refusing to testify, the Seriti Commission of Inquiry said on Monday.
Chairman of the inquiry, Judge Willie Seriti, told Geoff Budlender, SC, representing Van Vuuren, that the course of action would be decided on.
“The law is there. It will have to take its course. We will decide in due course on the sort of action we are going to take,” said Seriti at the inquiry in Pretoria.
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17 October 2014
Mail & Guardian
Botswana’s defence minister, Ramadeluka Seretse, has insisted that his government will not give South Africa an undertaking that a Botswana citizen wrongly repatriated to face murder charges will be spared the hangman’s noose.
This follows the deportation of the suspect, Edwin Samotse, to Botswana in August this year, contrary to South African government policy and a ministerial court order.
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17 October 2014
Daily Maverick
Signatory to the UN refugee convention, and boasting arguably the most progressive Constitution in the world, South Africa is often perceived to be a safe-haven for refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in their own countries. This is a misperception. A 2012 report by the African Centre for Migration and Society found that South Africa consistently failed to meet its legal obligations to protect asylum seekers. SA receives about 61,500 asylum claims annually (although the figures are sketchy), of which it grants only around 16%.
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16 October 2014
Business Day
A scant 130 disciplinary cases were instituted against prison officials for assault and torture despite more than 4,000 cases being reported in 2013-14, indicating a culture of impunity at the Department of Correctional Services, a parliamentary committee was told on Wednesday.
The Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative’s Lukas Muntingh told the justice and correctional services committee the figures showed correctional services did not take seriously its constitutional obligation to prevent the ill-treatment and torture of prisoners.
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10 October 2014
Mail & Guardian
After nearly two decades of criticism, flouted laws and disturbing reports, there seems to be a promise of change at the infamous Lindela Repatriation Centre.
In September the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) stepped in and said it required a long list of specific actions by the department of home affairs – the department responsible for the deportation of illegal immigrants – that will in effect make the commission responsible for oversight of Lindela. Wielding its constitutional power the SAHRC asked home affairs to:
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