Centre for Constitutional Rights
Prof Jeffery Jowell QC delivered a speech, entitled The Rule of Law and the Power to Prosecute, on 17 February 2010 during the Inaugural Rabinowitz Visitor Lecture. Click here for the speech.....
As we enter the much anticipated 2010 confident of a successful world soccer tournament, we would be wise to contemplate some of the more serious issues confronting our nation. Read more...
The CFCR recently made submissions on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and on the Public Service Broadcasting Bill 2009.
The appointment of advocate Menzi Simelane, former Director General of the Department of Justice as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), is cause for grave concern. Not only was he largely instrumental in the dismissal of his predecessor, advocate Vusi Pikoli, but serious question about his integrity, competence and impartiality were raised by the Ginwala Commission. Read more...
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The Centre for Constitutional Rights has requested the Human Rights Commission to investigate possible violations of the constitutional rights of Mr Chumani Maxwele and to take appropriate remedial action. Mr Maxwele was arrested by the Police’s Special Protection Unit on 10 February after he had made a rude gesture at the President’s motorcade. Read the press statement here...
Underpinning both the imperative to recognise constitutionally compliant cultural practices and to develop unconstitutional practices in such a manner as to render them constitutionally compliant, and thus of equal force, is a call for cultural tolerance. Read more and click here for submissions on the Ukuthwala Custom.
In Tongoane and others v Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs and others, the application for leave to appeal against the North Gauteng High Court’s (High Court) refusal to declare the Communal Land Rights Act (CLARA) invalid in its entirety as a result of Parliament’s failure to enact it in accordance with the procedure prescribed in section 76 of the Constitution is important for a number of reasons. Read more here...
Last year, on Human Rights Day, the Centre for Constitutional Rights issued its first Human Rights Report Card. We have decided to continue the process this year with a new Report Card that indicates where, in our opinion, we have been making progress with regard to human rights and where we have been regressing. We have once again awarded the grades for human rights in this year’s report card. Please click here for the Report Card...
On the matter of Solidarity obo Mrs R M Barnard v South African Police Services, heard in the Labour Court of South Africa, this case has important bearing on the implementation of both the Employment Equity Act as well as the Employment Equity Plan that the Act calls for. It also has vast implications for the many senior posts within the civil service that have not been filled because no suitable applicant from a designated group could be found. Read more here...