All Press Releases
11 December 2013
Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) have been granted leave to appeal the dismissal of the case that challenged the unlawful closure of refugee and asylum-seeker traders’ informal businesses by the police. The challenge comes in the light of the right to work and trade as refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa.
In July this year, LHR argued an application in the North Gauteng High...
6 December 2013
It is difficult to come to terms with the news that the world’s most revered statesman and human rights activist is gone. As is so often said, he now belongs to the ages.
Although an old man, he seemed immortal. But Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a man, a man whose dedication to the struggle against Apartheid and injustice, and opposition to oppression moulded him into a beacon and a...
2 December 2013
Refugee and asylum-seeker traders are seeking leave to appeal the dismissal of their case before the North Gauteng High Court where they challenged the unlawful closure of their informal businesses by the police. The challenge comes in the light of their right to work and trade as refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa.
In September this year, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) brought an...
27 November 2013
Lawyers for Human Rights - representing the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum - welcomes the Supreme Court of Appeal’s judgment, dismissing an appeal of the 2012 High Court decision setting aside the decision of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and South African Police Service (SAPS) not to initiate an investigation into crimes against humanity committed in...
27 November 2013
Johannesburg, 27 November – In a landmark decision for local and international justice, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal today ordered the South African Police Service (SAPS) to investigate high level Zimbabwean officials accused of committing crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe.
In its judgment, the Court made it clear that the perpetrators of systematic torture – as was...
27 November 2013
Please note that the media summary is for the benefit of the media and does not form part of the judgment.
National Commissioner of the South African Police Service v Southern African Human Rights Litigation Centre (485/2012) [2013] ZASCA 168 (27 November 2013).
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) today dismissed an appeal by the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service and...
20 November 2013
Lawyers for Human Rights have grown increasingly concerned by delays and adjournments at the Arms Procurement Commission.
Hearings were again adjourned yesterday, 19 November 2013, to allow evidence leaders time to collate their documents. No reason was given as to why evidence leaders were only given the documents they needed this morning to begin their witness’s testimony, nor why they...
28 October 2013
PRESS RELEASE
Of the 353 Home Affairs online birth registration facilities currently available in hospitals across the country, 111 (31.4%) are currently experiencing debilitating "infrastructure or IT related problems", according to a reply to a DA parliamentary question.
Online birth registration facilities play a crucial role in ensuring that birth registrations take place as soon as...
22 October 2013
In compliance with the Constitutional Court judgment of 9 October 2012, the parties held a series of intensive meetings and in June 2013 considered comprehensive packages to deal with the allocation of alternative accommodation pending the resolution on the longterm plan for Schubart Park residents and the future of the complex itself.
The process of negotiations between the City and erstwhile...
14 October 2013
The Arms Deal is the most significant scandal – both politically and economically – of the post-apartheid era. Not only has it dominated news cycles and formed the subject of numerous books, it has been directly responsible for the emasculation of Parliament, the inappropriate politicisation of the prosecuting authority and the outright destruction of the Directorate of Special...