The unemployment figures in Statistics South Africa’s latest quarterly report are shocking, but 3.5 million people are missing from the official count. By Dennis Webster Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the second quarter of this year shows that the country’s unemployment crisis is deepening. But the picture is likely a lot worse than you think. Released on Tuesday 30...

“This agreement can never make full redress for the loss and harm suffered by gold mine workers and their families and communities over the last 100 years,” says judge By Tania Broughton There was a lot of “give and take” from both sides, but the settlement agreement, which has resulted in a R5 billion compensation fund for gold miners afflicted with Silicosis...

Farm workers in the Western Cape winelands are still living in single-sex hostels at Oak Valley, as they were during apartheid. Now they are taking legal action. By Ra’eesa Pather In the pristine lands of one of the Western Cape’s best known farms, workers are restless. After months of negotiations and protest action, they have filed a court application for a...

No mining will take place in Mabola Protected Environment for now By John Yeld The Supreme Court of Appeal has dismissed an attempt by coal mining company Atha-Africa Ventures to appeal a High Court decision that reversed the hush-hush government approval it had for its proposed coal mine in an environmentally sensitive area in Mpumalanga. Atha-Africa, a local subsidiary of India-based transnational mining...

Ruling has implications for the legal concept of derivative misconduct By Wilmien Wicomb On 22 August 2012 a group of Dunlop employees started a protected strike that soon turned violent. Despite an interdict and the intervention of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa at the time, the violence escalated. On 26 September 2012 all the employees who participated in the...

The REFA Festival is back on the 6th of September 2019 After a highly successful inaugural Festival in 2018 that saw 450 people from South Africa and around the world attending... The second Rethinking Economics for Africa (REFA) Festival is just two short months away! The REFA Festival brings together academics, students, activists, policymakers, researchers and members of the public into a...

The International Development Law Unit (IDLU), Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria and the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) invite you to participate in the third dialogue of our workshop series "Finance and Human Rights". This workshop series brings together academics, activists, business people and practitioners in the fields of human rights, finance and economics to...

Case goes to the heart of the fundamental rights of access to basic education guaranteed by the Constitution, says judge By Tania Broughton They have been fighting a battle for 20 years, but now there is an end in sight for a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal who have obtained a supervisory court order forcing education authorities to finally build them a secondary...

Asked for comment, Impact Loss Control threatened legal action By Joseph Chirume Employees of a Port Elizabeth security company went on a strike on Tuesday. They are demanding the company allow their union to be recognised. They are also demanding an improvement in their working conditions. About 20 security guards of Impact Loss Control sang outside the company premises in Markman industrial area....

Environmental and activist groups appeal decision By John Yeld Government has given Australian-owned Tormin mine the go-ahead to vastly expand its current extraction of mineral sands on ten additional West Coast beaches and on an inland strip of old beach adjoining the existing mine near Lutzville. It has also condoned illegal activities by the mine, for which its owner Mineral Sands Resources (MSR)...