As the November 2023 deadline looms, 70% of public schools still don’t have libraries By Tatiana Kazim On 30 August, the Right to Read campaign was launched at the Women’s Jail in Johannesburg. The campaign brings together several organisations, including the Legal Resources Centre, the Centre for Child Law, SECTION27, Equal Education (EE), and Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) to mobilise civil...

Legal Resources Centre says these delays are “incredibly worrying” By Bernard Chiguvare Refugees living in Limpopo say they have not been able to renew their status for a number of years at the Department of Home Affairs. As a result they cannot get social grants for their children. The Legal Resources Centre says people not being able to renew permits at...

Jason Brickhill, director of litigation at SERI, remembers how Equal Education and the Legal Resources Centre built the school infrastructure norms and standards case By Matthew Hirsch Jason Brickhill, director of litigation at SERI and keynote speaker at the first Yoliswa Dwane Public Lecture, remembered how the case for school infrastructure norms and standards was built. “It is a profoundly important...

After a court battle lasting ten years, the new centre is set to open next year By Tariro Washinyira The long-awaited Cape Town Refugee Reception Centre in Epping is finally taking shape, with builders hard at work on the site of the new building. The office is due to be opened early next year after court battles which have lasted ten...

Legal Resources Centre says municipality has failed to comply with September court order on waste management By Loyiso Dyongman The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Makhanda has given the Makana Municipality until Friday 18 February to comply with a high court order of September last year to clean up all unofficial dumpsites in Makhanda - or face more court action. Makhanda residents (represented...

Court rules Home Affairs must provide monthly progress reports By Tariro Washinyira Western Cape High Court acting judge Alma de Wet has ordered the prompt re-opening of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office, which has been closed since 2012. In an order handed down on Tuesday, Judge De Wet declared that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is in breach of a Supreme...

Organisations analysed letters denying LGBTI applicants refugee status By Tariro Washinyira A report released on Thursday by several civil society organisations has found evidence that LGBT refugees are being denied asylum in South Africa despite being “eligible for protection under international and domestic law”. The authors of the report surveyed denial letters for 67 asylum applicants who had applied for asylum on the basis of...

Still no functional refugee reception office in Cape Town By Tariro Washinyira Despite court orders, since Home Affairs closed its refugee reception office in Cape Town it has not reopened a new one. Home Affairs dragged the matter through the courts for six years, losing every time. Since 2017 it has made little progress in reopening a “fully functional refugee reception...

If you were born in South Africa to non-citizens you can apply to be a citizen By Tania Broughton It has taken four years of legal battles, but now if you were born in South Africa to foreign parents you can apply for citizenship. It has been an “agonizing journey” for those who consider South Africa to be their only home. The Department of...

Appointing a special master to assist the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform is not judicial overreach By Zoë Postman and Wilmien Wicomb Labour tenants scored a major victory in the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. A majority of judges in the court upheld the Land Claims Court’s (LCC) order to appoint a special master to assist the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform to...