This is a huge victory, taking a step towards ensuring that the right to housing is realised and the legacy of spatial apartheid is addressed.

Catch up on recent CALS highlights in the latest edition of our quarterly newsletter: payg.rocketseed.net/public/messa... Or sign up for future editions here: www.wits.ac.za/cals/cals-qu...

It's Day 2 of the African Regional Indaba on the #BindingTreaty on Business and Human Rights with @lhr-sa.bsky.social and AIDC Today, civil society and communities are joined by representatives from states and human rights bodies to continue the conversation on corporate accountability

CALS is proud to co-host the 8th annual African Regional Indaba on the UN #BindingTreaty on Business and Human Rights along with AIDC and @lhr-sa.bsky.social Find out more about the #TreatyIndaba here: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

📢 Today and Tomorrow | 24 to 25 June 2026 📢 The 8th African Regional Indaba on the Binding Treaty for Business and Human Rights is taking place today and tomorrow. Join us virtually: 🔗 lnkd.in/dp6qZNdb #BindingTreaty #BusinessAndHumanRights #AfricanRegionalIndaba

Our Blossom Matizirofa unpacks new research on gender and mining undertaken in partnership with @rosaluxglobal.bsky.social and labour unions SAFTU and NUMSA Read the full article: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

This week, we host the 8th annual African Regional Indaba on the #BindingTreaty on Business and Human Rights in partnership with the AIDC and @lhr-sa.bsky.social Find out more: bit.ly/4vof250

Former CALS director @bonimeyersfeld.bsky.social is delivering her inaugural lecture as a full professor later this month. 📅 29 June 2026 🕔 17:00 – 18:00 📍 Senate Room, Solomon Mahlangu House RSVP: shorturl.at/tDsAP Please join us in celebrating this achievement! Attend online: shorturl.at/ox4BN

Head of our Home, Land and Rural Democracy programme Thuto Gabaphethe is set to present at this dialogue hosted by the South African Human Rights Commission on contemporary forms of dispossession within democratic South Africa

Happy Youth Day, South Africa 🇿🇦 Today, we mark 50 years since the Soweto Uprising. This serves as a reminder that the rights in our Constitution were hard-won. We remember that preamble calls on us all to build a society based on social justice.

This week, CALS is in the Western Cape High Court acting as a friend of the court. We hope to assist the Court to draw the distinction between hate speech and political speech, and determine the limits of the right to protest Find out more: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

In case you missed it: Our Home, Land and Rural Democracy team unpack some of the problems with a new Bill that proposes to change the law around evictions

New op-ed out! Our @leeannegaertner.bsky.social, Thuto Gabaphethe, Lulama Madyaka and Robert Krause unpack some of the issues with proposed amendments to the laws around evictions

Applications close today! Apply to join our team as a candidate legal practitioner: irec.wits.ac.za/OA_HTML/OA.j...

Reminder: CALS is looking for a candidate legal practitioner to join our team. Applications close 15 May 2026 Find out more: irec.wits.ac.za/OA_HTML/OA.j...

CALS is at the Wits University Law Careers Day today! Come past our stand to learn about careers in public interest law and opportunities to work with us

CALS is hiring! We're looking for a new candidate legal practitioner to join our team this year. Please share as widely as possible. Find the full requirements and apply here: irec.wits.ac.za/OA_HTML/OA.j...

CALS and our partners at Black Sash welcome the recent judgment from the Constitutional Court that Cash Paymaster Services must repay R81.3 million to #SASSA Find out more: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

Less than one week to go to the semi-finals of this year's #PILMOOT! We found out how our top four teams are feeling in the run-up to presenting their oral arguments. First up is the team representing the University of Johannesburg

Huge congratulations to our Thuto Gabaphethe who graduated with an LLM from Wits University on 24 March! His dissertation was entitled “The right to self-determination for the Khoi-San people in the Western Cape region of South Africa”

Huge congratulations to our top four teams who made it through to the final rounds of the #PILMOOT taking place next week at the Constitutional Court! They represent the University of Johannesburg, the University of Fort Hare, UNISA and Wits University. Read more: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

Catch up on recent CALS highlights in the latest edition of our quarterly newsletter: payg.rocketseed.net/public/messa... Or sign up for future editions here: wits.ac.za/cals/cals-qu...

Land reform delays in #SouthAfrica are not just slow progress; they reflect a failure to address the legacy of apartheid. @calsza.bsky.social argues this inaction breaches constitutional & human rights obligations. 🔗 www.escr-net.org/news/2026/so...

Our Sheena Swemmer marks 70 years since the 1956 #WomensMarch by reflecting on the work of current activists such as those at Embrace: The Movement for Mothers working towards ending #ObstetricViolence www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/...

CALS mourns the loss of human rights lawyer Nicholas Haysom. We send our deepest condolences to all his loved ones at this difficult time. Prof Haysom joined CALS as a research officer in 1981, working in the areas of labour law and human rights violations in the “homelands”

CALS was proud to host our partners at Embrace: The Movement for Mothers yesterday for the launch of their birth survey report on the nature and prevalence of #ObstetricViolence in Gauteng and KZN You can find the full report here: embrace.org.za/birth/

Join us next week as we host Embrace, the Movement for Mothers for the launch of their birth study exposing the nature and prevalence of #ObstetricViolence in Gauteng and KZN 📅 11 March 2026 🕘 9:00 - 12:00 📍 Chalsty Centre 🔗 m.youtube.com/channel/UC5L...

Join us for the online launch of the “Handbook on Business, Human Rights, and the Environment in Africa” featuring editor Jean-Claude N. Ashukem and moderated by Charmika Samaradiwakera Wijesundara 📅 20 March 2026 🕚 11:00 📍 MS Teams 🔗 Register here: bit.ly/40tnF0k

Wishing everyone writing exams this week the very best of luck!

Our director Christopher Gevers on the limits of self-defence under international law: “The requirement is not that a state has dangerous capabilities. It is that an armed attack is imminent. [This does not] include long-term or speculative threats.”

I joined the Embrace movement for the #LaundryDay protest outside of DoH. Obstetric violence is GBV!

Our director Prof Christopher Gevers discusses the conflict in the Middle East, weighing in on the legality of the strikes under international law www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiyr...

CALS was proud to join Embrace today for #LaundryDay, where we protested outside the Department of Health to draw attention to #ObstetricViolence Read the memorandum submitted here: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

Our Thuto Gabaphethe and Lulama Madyaka discuss why South Africa is far from meeting its 2030 targets for land reform. As a member of @escrnet.bsky.social, CALS is intervening in litigation to address government's failures around land reform. Read more: www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/...

The top 16 teams have been selected for this year's Public Interest Law Moot Court Competition! Find a full list of everyone through to the next round of virtual oral argument in the #PILMOOT here: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

Unlawful arrests or detentions cost the South African Police Service (SAPS) over R620-million in 2024/25, according to an answer in Parliament by Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia. Read groundup.org.za/article/the-... by GroundUp and The Outilier.

"The persistent conflation of the IHRA definition of Jewishness with Zionism harms not only Palestinians but also Jewish people, by suggesting that the illegal and abusive actions of the State of Israel are inherently Jewish — an antisemitic notion." groundup.org.za/article/what...

At 33, Edwin Cameron thought he had maybe 7 years left. At 73, the former Concourt justice is still here — a living testament to the power of activism that made #HIVTreatment accessible in South Africa. Read our profile by Tanya Pampalone and Mia Malan. mailchi.mp/bhekisisa.or...

In case you missed it: Our Sheena Swemmer on the #Mbenenge report “In the end, our Constitution does not pretend that power, history and inequality disappear in the name of neutrality. It insists that they matter, especially in cases of sexual harm.” www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026...

Reminder: We are partnering with Brunel University, UENF and the @britishacademy.bsky.social for an in-person and online conference on the protection of people threatened with death 📅 Deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2026 🔗 Find our more: wits.ac.za/news/sources...

Essential reading: Our Dr Sheena Swemmer unpacks the finding of the #Mbenenge sexual harassment tribunal, its impact and how it understand neutrality, bias and power

Reminder: We are calling for abstracts on evidence on the protection of people threatened with death 📅 Deadline for submission: 15 February 2026 🔗 Find out more: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

In case you missed it: Our Lulama Madyaka makes the case for an African treaty to address human rights abuses by corporations on the continent www.news24.com/opinions/ana...

Call for abstracts: People threatened with death In partnership with @Bruneluni, @uenf and the @BritishAcademy_, CALS is co-hosting a conference on programmes and policies protecting witnesses and activists under threat Read the full call for abstracts: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

The top 32 teams have been selected from over 400 entered into this year's Public Interest Law Moot Court Competition! Find a full list of everyone through to the next round of the #PILMOOT here: www.wits.ac.za/news/sources...

CALS founding director Prof John Dugard SC has been awarded the 2026 Olof Palme Prize along with Dr Navi Pillay for their outstanding contribution to the defence of fundamental human rights. Find out more: palmefonden.se/en/pristagar...

A huge thank you to everyone who has registered for this year's Public Interest Law Moot Court Competition! Well over 400 teams have entered this year's #PILMOOT Our judges are working hard at marking and we will announce the top 32 teams moving onto the next round shortly

CALS wishes all our friends, partners and colleagues a happy end to 2025! Thank you for all your support throughout the year. We will have a limited number of staff on duty for the rest of December and will return from 5 January 2026.

Catch up on recent CALS highlights in the latest edition of our quarterly newsletter: payg.rocketseed.net/public/messa... Or sign up for future editions here: www.wits.ac.za/cals/cals-qu...

This week, CALS is partnering with @lhr-sa.bsky.social and Wits Plus on our #ClimateJustice short course! This year the course is being offered to an all-women group of activists for the first time. Participants have joined us from mining, farming and fishing communities around the country.