August is Women’s Month in South Africa and 9th August this year marked 66 years since women of all races marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the pass laws that had been introduced by the apartheid government. They marched for equality, dignity and respect. However, even as we celebrate Women’s Month, women are still being sexually assaulted and abused by men, often the ones they know. Despite the numerous campaigns and interventions by government and civil society organisations around gender-based violence, high levels of sexual assault, rape and femicide still occur.

Over the weekend of 29-31 July, the ANC held its 6th National Policy Conference at Nasrec, Gauteng. These conferences are meant to be held approx- imately thirty months into every administra- tion’s term of office, but this time round the COVID pandemic delayed the conference.1 Since the ANC is the governing party, and its decisions […]

Recently the Western Cape High Court handed down what could well turn out to be a landmark decision in refugee jurisprudence. Judge Mark Sher ruled that “parents and care givers of South African children will be allowed to remain in South Africa after their relationships with their South African spouses have expired.” Judge Sher also ruled that certain provisions of the Immigration Act and its regulations were unconstitutional.

BP547 -Child Pregnancy by Lois LawThe issue of teenage pregnancy has been a matter of concern for some time. However, since the introduction of the COVID-19 lockdown and throughout the pandemic, it became increasingly clear that the age of children who became pregnant was becoming younger and younger. The girl children affected are as young […]