News

On 22 and 23 June 2015 the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) in conjunction with the Community Law Centre (CLC), University of the Western Cape organised a colloquium on Strategic Litigation on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa.

No Sábado dia 20 de Junho, os Serviços de Investigação Criminal (SIC) e a Polícia Nacional prenderam e encarceraram treze jovens activistas políticos e defensores de direitos humanos, numa residência onde discutiam questões políticas relacionadas com o estado da democracia em Angola. Depois de serem presos cada um deles foi levado para a sua residência algemados e a polícia fez buscas e confiscou equipamento informático e documentos, nomeadamente; computadores, máquinas fotográficas, agendas pessoais, revistas, documentos vários e cartões de recarga telefónica que encontraram. Muitos destes equipamentos e documentos são pertença de membros da família. A operação policial aconteceu sem qualquer “mandado de prisão ou de busca” e muitas vezes a polícia armada usou violência para entrar nas residências.

Community Law Centre’s Prof Jaap de Visser participated in the Commonwealth Local Government Forum's 20th Anniversary Conference in Gaborone, Botswana. He presented a paper at the Conference's Research Colloquium. His presentation was entitled "Lesotho's 2014 National Decentralisation Policy in comparative perspective". The paper examines the government of Lesotho's intention to deepen devolution in the Mountain Kingdom.

Shehaam Johnstone, a doctoral researcher with the Community Law Centre presented a paper on the intersection of multilevel government with food security Imperatives, during the 3rd annual conference on Critical Law and Governance Perspectives on Food Security in South Africa. The theme of the conference was “Exploring the Role of Policy-Makers and other Stakeholders.”

Community Law Centre’s researcher, Phindile Ntliziywana presented a paper at a roundtable organised by the South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) Parliamentary Liaison Office on 03 June 2015 in Cape Town. The roundtable was centred around discussions on local government, effective delivery and the devolution of power and the principle of subsidiarity.

Community Law Centre’s post-doctoral research fellow, Dr Tinashe Chigwata was awarded the prestigious fellowship at the Institute of Federalism Fribourg (IFF), University of Fribourg in Switzerland. IFF is one of the leading research institutions on federalism, decentralisation and conflict resolution.

The two young scholars from the University of Aix-Marseille, Manon Bonnet and Theo Fournier, who are being hosted by the Community Law Centre presented their research at a breakfast seminar on 4 June at the University of the Western Cape. The two have been conducting research at the centre on state-building, constitution-making and legitimacy as of the MA theses.

On 10 and 11 June 2015 CSPRI trained students and staff at the Universidade Edouardo Mondlane (UEM) in Maputo.