SALC’s Rule of Law work is integrated within its other programmatic areas and focuses on the following objectives:
- To challenge encroachments on judicial independence.
- To challenge practices where the executive seeks to encroach on the powers of parliament or the judiciary.
Completed cases:
- Lesotho: Support wife of late Brigadier Mahau to argue against the setting aside of the findings of the SADC Commission of Inquiry into Lesotho.
- Botswana: Challenge interpretation of Constitution which allows President discretion to appoint High Court judges.
- Swaziland: Challenging lawyer and editor’s arrest and detention for contempt of court.
- Zambia: Defending anti-corruption activist charged with contempt of court.
- Lesotho: Conduct advocacy and litigation to address unlawful arrests and military detention.
Publications:
Submissions:
Advocacy:
- Are African nations putting policing over public health? (2020).
- SALC in the news: Policing of petty offences (2017).
- International Human Rights Day: SALC looks back on key developments and children in 2016 (2016).
- Court Update: Maseko and Makhubu challenge the constitutionality of their arrest and detention (2014).