Quote of the week
It is clear that no legitimate objective is advanced by excluding domestic workers from COIDA. If anything, their exclusion has a significant stigmatising effect which entrenches patterns of disadvantage based on race, sex and gender…. In considering those who are most vulnerable or most in need, a court should take cognisance of those who fall at the intersection of compounded vulnerabilities due to intersecting oppression based on race, sex, gender, class and other grounds. To allow this form of state-sanctioned inequity goes against the values of our newly constituted society namely human dignity, the achievement of equality and ubuntu. To exclude this category of individuals from the social security scheme established by COIDA is manifestly unreasonable.
Mahlangu and Another v Minister of Labour and Others (CCT306/19) [2020] ZACC 24 (19 November 2020)
Press conference on sexual terror in Zimbabwe
Media Alert
You are invited to a press conference on the launch of a report by the advocacy organization AIDS-Free World on Thursday, 10 December, International Human Rights Day.
“Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe”:
n is based on sworn affidavits from women raped by ruling party militias before, during and after Zimbabwe’s 2008 presidential elections;
n reveals a conclusive pattern of orchestrated sexual violence and torture;
n describes the targeting of women associated with the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, and
n leaves no question that Robert Mugabe’s administration has committed crimes against humanity.
Four expert speakers will describe the report’s contents, including details and analysis of the testimony provided by survivors, and possible legal strategies for overcoming Zimbabwe’s culture of impunity.
Stephen Lewis, Co-Director, AIDS-Free World (and former UN Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa);
Beatrice Mtetwa, human rights lawyer and President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe;
Elinor Sisulu, award-winning author, political analyst and human rights activist;
Betsy Apple, Legal Director and General Counsel, AIDS-Free World.
Moderator: Shonali Shome, Legal and Gender Advisor, AIDS-Free World
Press Conference Details:
Date: Thursday, 10 December 2009
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Venue: The Gordon Institute of Business Science
Street address: 26 Melville Road, Illovo, Johannesburg
Media interviews can be arranged at the close of the press conference.
Please RSVP to FD South Africa by Tuesday, 8 December 2009.
Sandra Sampayo sandra.sampayo@fd.com 021 487 9000 / 079 167 6863
Dani Cohen dani.cohen@fd.com 021 487 9000 / 082 897 0443
