Southern African Litigation Centre

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SALC Joint Statement: Persecution of Ralph Kasambara Accelerates Slide Towards a Police State in Malawi

17th February 2012
Johannesburg:The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) condemn this week’s persecution of Malawi’s former Attorney-General, Ralph Kasambara, and express alarm at the country’s continuing slide away from established principles of democracy and rule of law.
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SALC Case: Lesotho Constitutional Court to Hear Challenge to Chieftainship Law

20th February 2012
On 22 and 23 February 2012, the Lesotho Constitutional Court will hear a case challenging a women's right to succeed to chieftainship in Lesotho. SALC will be providing regular updates from the hearing.
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SALC in the News: Bid to Force South Africa to Follow Rights Treaty

20th February 2012
THE North Gauteng High Court is to hear an application to compel SA to abide by its legal obligations to investigate and prosecute high-level Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity.
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SALC in the News: South Africa Court to Hear Zimbabwe Torture Cases

15th February 2012
JOHANNESBURG — Two civil society groups on Monday launched a legal bid to compel South African authorities to investigate and prosecute Zimbabwean officials accused of crimes against humanity.
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SALC in the News: Regional Litigators Ask South African Court to Prosecute Zimbabwean Rights Abusers

13th February 2012
The Southern African Litigation Center and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum want the South African High Court to oblige authorities to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe
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SALC in the News: SADC Tribunal - Calls for Reinstatement Region in Legal Limbo

2nd February 2012
A host of legal organisations have started to ratchet up pressure on regional governments to restore the functioning of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal.
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News Release: Lesotho Law Banning Women From Becoming Chiefs is Unconstitutional and Must be Repealed, Says SALC

17th January 2012
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) today joined the fight to repeal parts of Lesotho’s discriminatory Chieftainship Act, which only allows the first-born son to succeed to chieftainship, by filing submissions in a landmark case that is due before the country’s Constitutional Court next month. <
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Announcement: SALC launches new project, titled

31st January 2012
SALC is delighted to announce that it has secured funding from the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
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SALC Annual Report 2010

15th December 2011
Download the SALC Annual report 2010 (full document – 3MB)
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SALC in the News: Prostitutes Sue Government

14th November 2011
Two years after 14 commercial sex workers in Mwanza were arrested by police and forced to undergo an HIV test, the issue has now taken a dramatic turn with the sex workers dragging government to court for unfair action and for violating their right to privacy.
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SALC in the News: The Tenth ICC Session: More Pro-African?

7th December 2011
Ahead of the tenth session of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be held at the UN Headquarters in New York this December, a consortium of 26 civil society and international organisations operating in Africa have been urging African governments to reinforce their support of the court.
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SALC in the News: Judiciary Can Give Zuma Tips On Smart Power

7th November 2011
If promotion of influence is a primary goal of foreign relations, and smart power represents the ability to leverage influence, given the means available, then SA’s courts may be the ultimate purveyors
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SALC in the News: Why Countries Ignore ICC

22nd October 2011
Malawi is unlikely to be the last country to snub warrants of arrest from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the body is tangled in conflicting laws.
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SALC Joint Statement: Swaziland Shows Contempt for Rule of Law as Minister of Justice and Judge are Dismissed

30th September 2011
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Southern Africa Development Community Lawyers Association (SADC LA) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) voice the utmost alarm at reports that Judge Thomas Masuku has been dismissed from his office as judge of the High Court of Swaziland and that Swaziland’s Minister of Justice has similarly been dismissed for refusing to sign Judge Masuku’s dismissal order.
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SALC in the News: Southern African Governments Move to Rein in International Tribunal; Passing Judgment on Zimbabwe Has Led to Political Backlash Against SADC Tribunal

22nd May 2011
At a just-concluded Summit in Namibia, heads of state from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have moved to bar the region’s dispute resolution body from hearing new claims against SADC states
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Malawi: SALC Calls on Malawian Authorities to End Violence

26th July 2011
SALC and other human rights organisations called for an end to the use of firearms against protestors in Malawi and recommended that the Malawian government immediately launch an independent, impartial and thorough investigation into the activities of its security forces.
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SALC Report: The Suspension of Judge Thomas Masuku: Another Instance of Swaziland’s Ongoing Rule of Law Crisis

8th August 2011
The attached report describes the current judicial proceedings against Justice Thomas Masuku of Swaz....
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SALC Statement: Swaziland: Judge Masuku’s Disciplinary Hearing

15th August 2011
Mbabane – Swaziland High Court Judge Thomas Masuku’s disciplinary hearing conducted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), at which the Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi presided, was concluded last week, Thursday 11 August 2011. The JSC’s judgment is now awaited although no indication was offered by the JSC as to when it would render judgment.
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SALC Research: Additional Cases Heard by Judge Mogoeng Raising Concern Regarding His Approach to Gender-Based Violence

1st September 2011
Judge Mogoeng
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SALC Joint Statement: Support for the Swaziland Law Society as Judicial Crisis Escalates

23rd September 2011
The Southern Africa Development Community Lawyers Association (SADC LA) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) note the unprecedented action on the part of Swaziland lawyers who, on Wednesday 21 September, marched in large numbers through the streets of the capital, Mbabane, to protest Swaziland’s ongoing judicial crisis and the role of the Chief Justice in instigating this crisis.
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SALC in the News: Swazi Lawyers March Over Judge's Sacking

7th October 2011
Anti-government protest is gathering pace in Swaziland, with lawyers now taking to the street alongside labour unions, teachers, taxi drivers and banned political parties.
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SALC Statement: Suspension of Judge Highlights Rule of Law Crisis in Swaziland

26th July 2011
Mbabane, Swaziland -- Justice Thomas Masuku of the High Court of Swaziland currently faces unsubstantiated charges that could lead to his dismissal, highlighting a wider rule of law crisis in Swaziland.
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SALC in the News: Malawian Government Urged to Immediately Launch Probe on Violence

27th July 2011
The Southern Africa Litigation Center (SALC) is calling on the Malawian government to end violence in the Southern Africa nation and immediately launch investigations on the violence.
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SALC in the News: A Diplomatic Dilemma

2nd August 2011
Relations between South Africa and Rwanda seem to be thawing after the nations President Paul Kagame accused South Africa of unwillingness to help in the arrest of terror suspect General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa.
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SALC in the News: Mogoeng's Shocking Child Rape Rulings

2nd September 2011
As Constitutional Court Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng prepares to be interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for the position of chief justice in Cape Town on Saturday, more of his controversial judgments have surfaced, this time relating to child rape.
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SALC in the News: International Shock at Judge’s Dismissal

2nd October 2011
Mduduzi MagagulaTimes of Swaziland MBABANE &nd....
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SALC in the News: Obiang Visit ‘Further Blow’ to SA’s Battered Rights Reputation

20th October 2011
EQUATORIAL Guinea’s controversial head of state Teodoro Obiang Nguema will receive a red carpet reception in Pretoria tomorrow as alarm over SA’s foreign policy decisions grows.
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SALC in the News: Neutral Country May Take Rwandan General

20th July 2011
SA’s government is negotiating the handover of alleged Rwandan war criminal and former general Kayumba Nyamwasa to a "neutral country", sources confirmed yesterday.
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SALC Statement - RE: Neutral Country May Take Rwandan General

20th July 2011
STATEMENT BY THE SOUTHERN AFRICA LITIGATION CENTRE IN RESPONSE TO REPORTS THAT THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOV....
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SALC Joint Statement: Swaziland: Failure To Expeditiously Resolve Judge Masuku Matter

22nd August 2011
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Southern Africa Development Community Lawyers Association (SADC LA) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) note that the Swaziland Judicial Services Commission (JSC) met on Friday, 19 August 2011, a full week after the hearing of the charges against High Court Justice Thomas Masuku. Yet no decision has been communicated nor have reasons been provided by the JSC for the rulings made during the JSC’s hearing of 11 August 2011.
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