Wed 03 Feb 2010 |
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Media 2010
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Written by Civil Society Coalition
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The civil society coalition calls upon the DA to withdraw its support for the flawed Special Dispensation on Political Pardons and its RG process. In particular the DA ought to repudiate Dr. Delport's insistence on maintaining secrecy as well as his refusal to permit victim participation. Moreover the coalition calls on the DA to offer a formal apology to victims for the role the party played in denying them a voice in the political pardons process.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 |
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News 2010
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Written by www.financialmail.co.za
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 On why they were determined to pursue the case, the group's national director, Marjorie Jobson said: 'It is critically important because it is an international human rights case that deals directly with corporate liability and multinational companies' behaviour during apartheid.'
Questioned about Kader Asmal's opposition to the case and the charge that it usurps SA sovereignty and raises false hopes, she said: 'Our case has been amended since we first launched it and this is not the question being considered by the court in New York. The key issue is whether the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) can be applied to civil as well as to criminal cases; and whether the ATS recognises corporate criminal liability under international customary law. ATS is the only available law internationally that recognises corporate liability.'
She suggested the reason why the law had not been developed in this area was probably 'because most companies would rather negotiate a settlement because of the bad publicity'.
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Mon 18 Jan 2010 |
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Written by Tshepo Madlingozi and Marjorie Jobson, Khulumani Support Group, www.sowetan.co.za
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SEVERAL South African academics and former TRC investigators recently informed the Khulumani Support Group that they were approached by defendants in the apartheid lawsuit to enter an amici (friends of the court) brief for them or to testify on their behalf.
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Sat 16 Jan 2010 |
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Media 2010
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Written by Dr. Marjorie Jobson, Khulumani Support Group
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Professor Asmal's disingenuous response to being considered to have betrayed comrades (victims and survivors of apartheid era gross human rights) in the South African Apartheid Litigation (formerly known as Khulumani et al vs Barclays et al) is obfuscatory.
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Fri 15 Jan 2010 |
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Written by Kader Asmal, www.businessday.co.za
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ALL my life I have fought against racial oppression and I believe wrongdoers must be held accountable. Still, in my capacity as an international law scholar, I recently co- authored an opinion which supports a motion to dismiss claims being brought by South African citizens in US courts against several international corporations in relation to their conduct in SA during the apartheid era . And I would do so again. I have learned during my life-long fight against racial oppression that it is of vital importance to preserve and defend our intellectual honesty.
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Thu 14 Jan 2010 |
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News 2010
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Written by www.sowetan.co.za
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South Africa' s pardons system is in a mess, and political parties are doing nothing to help. The Khulumani victims' rights group said two years ago that pardons should not be granted to convicted killers unless the families of their victims had been given a chance to voice their opinions.
But political parties kept silent. So it was surprising yesterday when Selfe said the DA wanted a new pardons law to include the right for victims' families to be heard before anyone was pardoned.
It was doubly surprising because in 2008 the DA's now retired MP Tertius Delport (left) chaired the Pardons' Reference Group. Delport, a retired apartheid Cabinet member, led the group that came up with 120 names recommended for special pardon.
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Fri 22 Jan 2010 |
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News 2010
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Written by Eusebius Mckaiser, www.businessday.co.za
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"A company is a special kind of moral agent. But being special does not mean exemption from the requirements of decency. We should not be fooled by the fact that companies are legal entities that do not exist in the way we do. Yes, we cannot imagine a company committing a murder, for example, because it does not exist in the flesh. Companies are abstract things that exist on paper. But that fact is a red herring.
Behind the company are human beings, who do have the capacity to think and act morally. They take and execute decisions in the name of the legal entity. This means there is nothing weird about saying a company that releases toxic waste into a river from which a community draws water, for example, is acting immorally as a company. There are managers who took such a decision and who could have acted otherwise."
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Mon 18 Jan 2010 |
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News 2010
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Written by Dr.Marjorie Jobson, www.timeslive.co.za
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De Kock's repugnant crimes make a pardon unthinkable, writes Marjorie Jobson
Many Khulumani members whose loved ones were killed or disappeared through Eugene de Kock's activities on behalf of the illegitimate apartheid regime would not sleep at night if De Kock were to be freed.
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Sat 16 Jan 2010 |
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Written by Mathatha Tsedu, www.fin24.com
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A SOUTH AFRICAN court has decided that the infringements of rights of South Africans in another country, in this instance Zimbabwe, are within the jurisdiction of South African courts to redress. What I find fascinating about the Afriforum action is that the court decision in Tshwane came in the week when another group of South Africans, this time black, were trying to get an American court to also give them the same kind of redress for violations of their rights during apartheid.
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 Professor Kader Asmal is quoted as saying in January 2007 that NGO's must be "assertive and judicial" when it comes to holding corporations accountable for human rights violations. But now Prof Asmal and several others oppose Khulumani's efforts, a 58,000 strong South African NGO doing just that?
Professor Asmal urged participants of the 2007 Business, Accountability and Human-Rights conference, in Rosebank, to hold corporations accountable for enforcing human rights: “It should be our aim to move away from the idea that the state is the only one accountable for enforcing human-rights, and corporations need to take the responsibility," he said.
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| Khulumani responds to the claims of Professor Asmal et al that corporations should not be held responsible for their conduct and that the Apartheid Lawsuit usurps the sovereignty of South Africa:
International Law recognises corporate liability:
1. Many treaties as well as the domestic law of virtually every country including India, the USA and South Africa recognise that corporations can be held responsible for human rights abuses and criminal conduct. Khulumani's lawyers, supported by many international law professors, have put forward a convincing argument that international customary law principles recognise corporate liability. The Alien Tort Claims Act does not exclude corporate liability.
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