Protesters call for plan to transform Johannesburg’s hostels Coalition marches against xenophobia By Zoë Postman Hundreds of people marched through Johannesburg at the weekend demanding an end to xenophobia and gender-based violence. The route was supposed to take the marchers through Hillbrow but it was changed on the morning of the march because police said they had received intelligence that it was not...

The same conduct by someone other than a parent towards the same child would be indefensible assault By Zoë Postman In a landmark judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court declared that parents may not spank their children. The court declared the common law defence of “reasonable and moderate chastisement” — which allowed parents to spank their children with the justification that it was...

They allege that City of Cape Town officials have confiscated their private property in violation of a court order By Raymond Joseph An urgent application by seven homeless people to have Cape Town’s Mayor, a member of the Mayoral Committee and the City’s head of safety and security imprisoned for 30 days for contempt of court will be heard in the Cape...

Advocates for learners without birth certificates who have been barred from schools argue that the state is punishing them for circumstances beyond their control. By Tania Broughton The voices of 37 children barred from school because they have no birth certificates will be heard at the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda this week when they argue, on behalf of themselves...

Activists want new developments in city centre to include affordable housing  By Sandisiwe Shoba Activist organisation and law centre Ndifuna Ukwazi (NU) has launched litigation in the Cape High Court to compel the City of Cape Town to develop a housing policy that would require new developments to include affordable housing. To launch the litigation about 30 NU and Reclaim the City members...

City argues that court doesn’t have jurisdiction to do that By Lucas Nowicki On Thursday the High Court in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) heard an application by the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) to dissolve the Makana Municipal Council for violating its constitutional mandate by failing to provide basic services to the community. The UPM is calling for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional...

Casual Workers Advice Office vows to continue its work By Zoë Postman In the midst of xenophobic attacks on mostly immigrant-owned shops in Germiston, Johannesburg, non-profit organisation Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO) was looted and set alight on Monday evening. Shattered glass and CWAO cards were strewn across the pavement outside the office. On Tuesday afternoon, CWAO staff members were cleaning up the...

Employees of the Expanded Public Works Programme have essentially become ‘permanent casuals’ who earn a pittance and have no job security or collective bargaining power. By Anna Majavu For the past 12 years, about 150 people have swept the streets and cleared blocked drains in Uitenhage and Motherwell. They work in a government-funded programme administered by the Eastern Cape Department of...

The state’s case against the family of drowned schoolboy is “insensitive”, says Justice Navsa By Ciaran Ryan The Limpopo education department came in for sharp criticism from Supreme Court of Appeal judge Mahomed Navsa on Monday over the death of four year-old Michael Komape in a school pit toilet in 2014. “The Department has not exactly covered itself in glory with respect to...

But bill has been waiting for the president to sign it into law since at least April By Linda Daniels Aphiwe Nomandla is a second year computer science student at the University of the Western Cape. To date, the cost of prescribed textbooks for his course ranged from R799 to R3,985. He said most students could not afford to buy the required...