All news items
8 June 2012
The Department of Home Affairs must come up with urgent and meaningful measures to put an end to the ill treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, the SA Human Rights Commission said on Thursday.The recommendations come after the SAHRC launched another investigation into reports of an alleged protest which was staged by refugees at the Lindela Repatriation Centre on Monday.It was reported...
9 May 2012
In what has been hailed as a landmark judgment for the victims of human rights abuses and the public in general, the Pretoria High Court ruled that the South African authorities have a duty to investigate Zimbabwean officials implicated in acts of torture in that country.
Judge Hans Fabricius found that the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NPA), the head of the Priority Crimes...
4 May 2012
The Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation (ESSET) condemns in the strongest possible terms the punching and kicking of an informal trader, Andries Ndlovu by four uniformed metro police officers in Ivory Park, Midrand. According to Sunday Times, Ndlovu was beaten on Freedom Day after he asked the metro police officers why they were beating another informal trader, a 60-year-old...
3 May 2012
THE decision by the Tshwane Metro Council to implode the problematic Schubart Park flats has been put on hold, pending an application to the Constitutional Court by the tenants to return to their homes. Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) was geared up to approach the Pretoria High Court today for an urgent application to halt the implosion of the building pending the final outcome of an application...
1 May 2012
An unprecedented assault by police using unrestrained violence in hunting down criminals is exploding across South Africa. Pressure mounting on the police to reduce crime and push up conviction rates, officers are pushing the boundaries, leaving hordes of physically and mentally tortured victims in their wake.
With experts warning that torture - which when revealed has a severe adverse effect on...
4 April 2012
Refugees seeking to get their asylum permits renewed at the Department of Home Affairs offices at the Tshwane Showgrounds are accusing officials of corruption and unwillingness to help people who cannot afford to pay a bribe. Tempers flared on Monday when at least 2 000 refugees blocked Soutter Street next to the entrance leading into the grounds. They burnt tyres as they protested and...
29 March 2012
Human and refugee rights organisations here have launched a campaign against the detention of undocumented miners at the notorious Lindela Repatriation Centre outside Johannesburg. This follows findings that large numbers of unaccompanied minors were detained in the cells and then deported, mostly to Zimbabwe, without safeguards to ensure legal oversight or consideration of their best...
28 March 2012
Mail&Guardian: The department of home affairs has yet to explain the extended detention of 22 inmates at the Lindela repatriation centre following a riot at the facility on Monday.
On March 20 the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) brought an urgent application to the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg requesting the immediate release of 22 people who have been detained at Lindela...
27 March 2012
AT LEAST 10 people sustained injuries yesterday during a riot at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in the West Rand.
The centre is used to keep illegal immigrants before they are repatriated to their respective countries.
It is understood that inmates, believed to be made up mainly of Nigerian and Ethopian nationals, rioted after management refused to listen to their complains about...
26 March 2012
The North Gauteng High Court today was forced to postpone the landmark case brought by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the Zimbabwean Exiles Forum (ZEF) to compel South Africa to investigate and prosecute high level Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity - after the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) appointed new counsel just days before the...