More News Articles

SERI currently has two vacancies for Research and Advocacy Officers. We’re looking for vibrant self-starters to contribute to SERI’s work.

The Researcher position will assist with integrating SERI’s research and advocacy work with its litigation work. The successful candidate will work both on their own and in a team, and will be responsible for conducting policy, legal and field research, as well as writing reports and documenting SERI’s litigation.

The Community Research and Advocacy Officer position will focus on engaging with SERI’s clients, and other community-based organisations, to assist with SERI’s research and advocacy work. The successful candidate will work both on their own and in a team, and will be responsible for undertaking field research in SERI projects and community engagement and mobilisation functions with SERI client organisations, as well as legal and policy research where necessary.

The closing date for applications is 29 September 2014. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, and will be expected to make themselves available for interviews in early October.

• Please read the full job advertisement (with requirements and contact details) here or download the PDF here.

On 4 September 2014, SERI hosted a workshop to present the findings of the Community Practice Notes: Informal Settlement Series published in August. SERI's first series of community practice notes documents how community-based organisations (CBOs) in four informal settlements have organised and mobilised in their struggles for development, particularly around in situ upgrading of informal settlements. In doing so the series analyses the relationship between evictions, development, community organisation and mobilisation, local politics, protest and the use of courts. The four settlements included in the series are: Makause, Rooigrond, Thembelihle and Slovo Park.

Approximately 20 representatives from the CBOs profiled in the series participated in the workshop, which aimed to discuss and evaluate the tactics and strategies employed by CBOs, as well as unpack the challenges faced by communities fighting for development.

• Read more about the series here.
• See photos of the workshop here.

Today GroundUp News published an excellent article by SERI board member Sandra Liebenberg, entitled "What the law has to say about evictions".

The article discusses progress made in evictions law since the Grootboom judgment was handed down in 2000 by the Constitutional Court. Liebenberg argues that while this ruling has helped to transform evictions law in South Africa, the question remains: "What do the Grootboom judgment and housing legislation mean in practice for people facing eviction or demolition of their homes?" She also discusses the very relevant issue of "what counts as a home" in the eyes of municipalities and the law.

• Read the article (1 September 2014) here.

Today SERI will launch an urgent intervention application in the Fischer case, on behalf of those who occupied the Marikana informal settlement in Philippi on or before 30 June 2014. SERI is intervening to ensure that the City of Cape Town does not confirm the interim interdict issued by the Western Cape High Court in January 2014.

SERI argues that the interdict is strikingly similar in wording to the one obtained and used by SANRAL in the eviction of Nomzamo informal settlement. SERI fears that despite the City's assurances, it will use the interdict to circumvent the protections of the Constitution and the PIE Act to illegally evict the families living at the Marikana informal settlement. The case will be heard at 10am on 1 September 2014 in the Western Cape High Court.

• Notice of motion in intervention application (29 August 2014) here and founding affidavit here.
• Read more on the case here.