Research Reports

Securing a Home Research Reports

Women's Equal Rights to Land and Housing

These reports form part of the Women’s Spaces project, made possible by Global Affairs Canada.

1. A Gendered Analysis of Family Homes in South Africa (June 2024).

This research report is the first in the series. It interrogates the concept of the family home through a gendered lens. The report finds that women and children, who are often the primary occupants of family homes are disproportionately affected by family home related disputes. Accompanying the reports are a series of fact sheets, which are topic specific summaries of different areas of the larger report. f

The guide is also accompanied by a series of information sheets. Access the information sheets below.

Fact Sheet 1: Understanding the Family Home.
Fact Sheet 2: Family Home Before the Courts - Moving Towards Legal Recognition?
- Fact Sheet 2A - Custodianship and Rights Inquiries as Useful Remedies.
- Fact Sheet 2B - Validity and Enforceability of Family Rights Agreement.
- Fact Sheet 2C - Reconsidering Family Rights Agreements and Moving Towards Legal Recognition?
Fact Sheet 3: Family Homes in Law and Practice.
Fact Sheet 4: How Do Family Home Disputes Affect Women?
Fact Sheet 5: How Can You Protect or Strengthen Your Claims to Your Family Home?
Fact Sheet 6: Policy Recommendations.

Eviction Research Series: Just and Equitable?

The evictions research series is concerned with the way in which the courts have adjudicated evictions. It aims to assess the courts compliance with relevant legislation and case law. In addition, the series maps the spatial distribution of evictions to highlight any areas that face particular vulnerability. This report is the first output in the series. Its focus is eviction cases in the inner city of Johannesburg and its immediate periphery filed at the Johannesburg Central Magistrate’s Court between 2013 and 2018.

1. An analysis of eviction applications in the Johannesburg Central Magistrate's Court and their compliance with the law (March 2022).

This research report is the first in the series Just and Equitable? It analyses eviction cases in 12 wards in the inner city of Johannesburg and its immediate periphery litigated at the Johannesburg Central Magistrate’s Court between 2013 and 2018 and asks whether eviction applications have been examined through the just and equitable lens, as the legislation requires. Even with a relatively small sample, the report makes important findings about: the extent to which evictions law is being followed in the adjudication of cases; whether consideration is being given to the personal circumstances of those being evicted and potential homelessness that might ensue; the reasons why people are being evicted; and the legal representation of respondents. The findings illustrate that a more hands-on approach from the judiciary in adjudicating eviction applications is essential to ensure that the legal protections from arbitrary evictions offered to the poor and vulnerable are realised.

This report was written by Nerishka Singh (lead author) and Yvonne Erasmus. >> Read the full report here.

Claiming Water Rights in South Africa

The research forms part of the global #ClaimYourWaterRights campaign initiated by End Water Poverty. This research examines how water rights are being claimed in South Africa, with a view to drawing lessons from the work of communities and civil society organisations in a diverse range of circumstances. It consists of four case study reports and a synthesis report which documents, synthesises and analyses the four case studies. The research was conducted in the first half of 2020 just as COVID-19 began to spread in South Africa. Access to water emerged early as integral to combatting the virus, as frequent handwashing is one of the key preventative measures. While the full extent of the impact of COVID-19 on water services in South Africa is still unfolding, the report offers some preliminary observations on this relationship.

1. Claiming water rights in South Africa – synthesis report (August 2020).

This report forms part of the global #ClaimYourWaterRights campaign initiated by End Water Poverty. The purpose of the report is to examine how water rights are being claimed in South Africa, with a view to drawing lessons from the work of communities and civil society organisations in a diverse range of circumstances. To do so, the report documents and analyses four case studies developed using a combination of desktop research methods, drawing on information in the public domain contained in sources such as court documents, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) reports, academic articles and media reports, and interviews conducted with key contacts in each case. The case studies are also published as a series of standalone publications, more detailed than this report.

This report was written by Lisa Chamberlain (lead author), Kelebogile Khunou, Thato Masiangoako and Alana Potter. >> Read the full report here.

2. Case study 1: Farm dwellers fight for access to water in uMgungundlovu district municipality (20 October 2020).

The uMgungundlovu District Municipality is located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It comprises of several local municipalities including uMsunduzi and uMshwathi Local Municipalities. In this report, the municipalities will be referred to as uMgungundlovu, uMsunduzi and uMshwati respectively. The uMgungundlovu region is made up of a mixture of urban and rural areas with the provincial capital Pietermaritzburg falling in uMsunduzi. The StatsSA 2016 Census recorded the population of the uMgungundlovu region as 1,095,865 people comprising 300,953 households. uMgungundlovu is an ambitious municipality. Its vision, which is frequently quoted on its website and in all its reports, is to “evolve into a dynamic metropolitan municipality, spreading its vibrant economic benefits to all its citizens and places and will, through concerted integrated development and service delivery, realise improvements in the overall quality of life.” It hopes to unite its seven local municipalities into a single metro by the next local government elections in 2021. uMgungundlovu is both a Water Services Authority (WSA) and a Water Services Provider (WSP). uMsunduzi has also been designated as a WSA. Approximately 80% of people in the uMgungundlovu region get their water from the municipality or other WSPs, while the remaining 20% use boreholes, rainwater tanks, dams, rivers or water vendors.

This report was written by Lisa Chamberlain (lead author), Kelebogile Khunou, Thato Masiangoako and Alana Potter. >> Read the full report here.

3. Case study 2: Residents of Marikana informal settlement use expropriation as a tool (September 2020).

This case study of the Marikana informal settlement is the second of four case studies. It illustrates how expropriation in terms of the Housing Act 107 of 1997 (the Housing Act) can be utilised as a tool to widen access to urban land for poor people and to provide them with services. The Marikana informal settlement in Cape Town is home to over 60 000 people. For years, the residents of Marikana have persistently and innovatively engaged in a diversity of strategies to improve their living conditions. These strategies have included community mobilisation, engagement with the authorities, protest, self-supply, and ultimately, precedent-setting litigation in the Fischer case which is the first case in South Africa to examine the possibilities of expropriation in terms of the Housing Act.

This report was written by Lisa Chamberlain (lead author), Kelebogile Khunou, Thato Masiangoako and Alana Potter. >> Read the full report here.

4. Case study 3: Makana local municipality – provincial intervention in a municipal crisis (3 November 2020).

Makana Case Study COVER The Makana case study is about a municipality in crisis. It has faced various challenges related to service delivery, administration, and finances, many of which have recurred over long periods of time. The crisis includes water outages, water quality problems, near non-existent road maintenance, failure to collect refuse timeously and the inability to manage waste sites and illegal dumping. Water supply across the municipality, and in Makhanda in particular, has been crippled by a combination of aging infrastructure desperately in need of repairs and severe drought over the past four years which has almost emptied a number of dams on which Makhanda relies for its water supply.

This report was written by Lisa Chamberlain (lead author), Kelebogile Khunou, Thato Masiangoako and Alana Potter. >> Read the full report here.

5.Case study 4: Maluti-a-Phofung – a community doing it for themselves (17 November 2020).

Maluti Case Study COVER The Maluti-a-Phofung reflects on the efforts of an unusual coalition of residents and community leaders in Maluti-a-Phofung – known as the Harrismith Water Heroes – who, in the face of continued poor service delivery by local government took it upon themselves to fix their town’s water infrastructure. The provision of basic services in Intabazwe, Harrismith and surrounds had deteriorated steadily over the past decade, fuelled by political in-fighting, crippling debt and the collapse of governance and administration within Maluti-a-Phofung municipality.

This report was written by Lisa Chamberlain (lead author), Kelebogile Khunou, Thato Masiangoako and Alana Potter. >> Read the full report here.

Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency

The Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa’s (SERI’s) Informal Settlement Research Series is called “Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency”. It has produced three site-based research reports and a fourth synthesis report. The reports offer preliminary site-specific directions for future intervention and highlight implications for informal settlement upgrading in South Africa.

Informal settlements have been part of the South African urban landscape for decades. The Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme (UISP) provides a strong policy framework for improving the lives of informal settlement residents. There are however few if any examples where municipalities have upgraded informal settlements in keeping with the policy. SERI’s research provides qualitative, evidence-based insights to assist government officials, practitioners, planners and community members to strengthen the implementation of in-situ upgrading.

1. The Promised Land: Ratanang Informal Settlement (April 2019)

This report, “The Promised Land: Ratanang Informal Settlement”, is the first of the three site-based reports in SERI’s informal settlement research series entitled “Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency.” The Ratanang informal settlement is situated west of the Klerksdorp Central Business District (CBD) in the City of Matlosana’s municipal jurisdiction. This report explores local realities and practices in land use management and tenure, access to basic services, the residents’ livelihoods and the nature of political space in the lives of Ratanang residents.

The report concludes that the Ratanang informal settlement was not an informal place to live. People organised themselves individually and collectively to secure their tenure, defend themselves against eviction, access land, water and energy and make a living. As such, external interventions which seek to impose an alternative order or regulate according to a different set of norms or rules – through processes of “formalisation”- should begin by recognising the local norms and regulations which already exist in Ratanang, and other informal settlements.

This report was a team effort. It was written by Lauren Royston (SERI senior associate) who also managed the project, Tiffany Ebrahim (SERI researcher) who also coordinated the field research and participated in the Ratanang steering committee, Edward Molopi (SERI researcher), Alana Potter (SERI director of research and advocacy), and Dennis Webster (former SERI researcher). >>Read the report here.

2. Our Place to Belong: Marikana Informal Settlement (April 2019)

This report, “Our Place to Belong: Marikana Informal Settlement”, is the second of the three site-based reports in SERI’s informal settlement research series entitled “Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency.” The Marikana informal settlement is located in Philippi East, Cape Town. This report explores local realities and practices in land use management and tenure, access to basic services, the residents’ livelihoods and the nature of political space in the lives Marikana residents.

The report concludes with provisional directions for upgrading. It indicates Marikana-specific implications and also provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

This report was a team effort. It was written by Lauren Royston (SERI senior associate) who also managed the project, Dennis Webster (former SERI researcher) who also coordinated the field work, Tiffany Ebrahim (SERI researcher), Edward Molopi (SERI researcher) and Alana Potter (SERI director of research and advocacy). >>Read the report here.

3. Left Behind: Siyanda Informal Settlement (April 2019)

This report, “Left Behind: Siyanda Informal Settlement”, is the third of the three site-based reports in SERI’s informal settlement research series entitled “Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency.” Siyanda is located in KwaMashu, eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal. This report explores local realities and practices in land use management and tenure, access to basic services, the residents’ livelihoods and the nature of political space in the lives Marikana residents.

The report concludes with preliminary directions for upgrading. It indicates Siyanda specific upgrading issues and provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

This report was a team effort. It was written by Lauren Royston (SERI senior associate) who also managed the project, Edward Molopi (SERI researcher) who also coordinated the field work, Tiffany Ebrahim (SERI researcher), Kelebogile Khunou (SERI researcher) and Alana Potter (SERI director of research and advocacy). Abahlali baseMjondolo were SERI’s partners in the Siyanda research. >>Read the report here.

4. Here to Stay: A Synthesis of Findings and Implications from Ratanang, Marikana and Siyanda (May 2019)

This report, “Here to Stay: A Synthesis of Findings and Implications from Ratanang, Marikana and Siyanda” is the fourth and final report. It synthesises and compares findings across the three research sites and emanates from SERI’s informal settlement research series entitled “Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency.” It also considers the implications for upgrading in a comparative way across all three sites

The report concludes by emphasising the agency that occupiers and their representatives used in the face of considerable contestation and also offers some concrete directions for upgrading, based on the synthesis of the site-specific findings.

This report was a team effort. It was written by Lauren Royston (SERI senior associate) who also managed the project, Kelebogile Khunou (SERI researcher), Alana Potter (SERI director of research and advocacy) and Tiffany Ebrahim (SERI researcher). Lauren Royston edited the report with assistance from Kelebogile Khunou. >>Read the report here.

Edged Out: Spatial Mismatch and Spatial Justice in South Africa's Main Urban Centres (December 2016)

South Africa’s cities are exclusionary spaces where the combined influences of unchallenged market forces and an Apartheid past mean poor people are confined to urban peripheries. They are also places of great dynamism and have significant potential for development. This report uses statistical analysis and national spatial data on local unemployment rates and the distribution of jobs to investigate spatial mismatch in South Africa’s major urban centres. It finds that there is a significant relationship between physical proximity to jobs and local unemployment rates, which implies that housing located far away from job opportunities acts as a poverty trap. The state and city governments should proactively intervene in housing markets to provide well located and affordable housing for the poor. This will be central to dismantling the “Apartheid city”, and moving towards urban spatial justice. In addition to the report, we have published a longer technical report, which includes a more in-depth presentation of our method and results. The report was written by Joshua Budlender and Lauren Royston. Joshua Budlender wrote the technical report. >>Read the report here, and read the technical report here.

Evictions and Alternative Accommodation in South Africa 2000-2016: An Analysis of the Jurisprudence and Implications for Local Government (March 2016)

This report, which builds on a first edition published in 2013, responds to the fact that neither property owners nor municipalities have fully come to terms with the significant paradigm shift in the law relating to eviction and urban regeneration. Despite years of litigation and a host of progressive court judgments, which have substantially contributed to the constitutional right of access to adequate housing, municipalities like the City of Johannesburg are still failing to fulfill their duties in relation to evictions and the provision of alternative accommodation. The report includes the latest developments in the law relating to housing rights and evictions and aims to highlight what they have contributed towards South Africa's housing and evictions jurisprudence. The first edition was written by Michael Clark. Stuart Wilson updated the case law and analysed its implications for the second edition. >>Read the full report here.

Tenure Security in Informal Settlements on Customary Land (December 2015)

SERI worked with the Housing Development Agency in the course of 2015 on a research project on securing tenure in informal settlements on customary land. It involved in-depth research in four informal settlements in four provinces and culminated in a set of recommendations for the HDA and other role players. One of the key issues identified in the research was lack of awareness about IPILRA rights (the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act) among the key stakeholders. >>Read the full report here.

Minding the Gap: An Analysis of the Supply of and Demand for Low-Income Rental Accommodation in Inner City Johannesburg (November 2013)

This research report highlights the gap in the demand for and supply of low-income rental accommodation in inner city Johannesburg. From research into the supply of formal rental accommodation in the inner city, it is clear that there are no permanent options available to those earning below R3 200 per month. This comprises almost 50% of all households in the inner city, who can afford rent of R900 or less per month. While there are a few institutions providing state-subsidised social housing at lower rentals, these institutions are extremely oversubscribed and there is almost no social housing actually available or affordable to people. The City argues that poor and low-income people should access informal accommodation in shared units at cheaper rentals. However even this informal accommodation is unaffordable to many people, with living arrangements overcrowded with a lack of privacy and security of tenure. The report argues that the most significant intervention the City should be making in the inner city is an affordable, accessible rental housing programme that responds to the needs of the majority of residents. This report was written by Kate Tissington. >>Read the full report here and the summary here.

Evictions and Alternative Accommodation in South Africa: An Analysis of the Jurisprudence and Implications for Local Government (November 2013)

The jurisprudence of the South African courts (especially the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal) has significantly contributed to the right of access to adequate housing, enshrined in section 26 of the Constitution. The courts have supplemented the legal framework by developing a number of progressive legal principles that should be upheld in eviction cases. The jurisprudence has therefore led to the development of a new cluster of relationships between the parties involved in eviction proceedings, a cluster of relationships that is characterised by a series of rights and obligations pertaining to various parties. Yet despite years of litigation and a host of progressive judgments municipalities have been hesitant, unwilling or unable to act on the obligations laid down in case law. It is amid this complexity that this report seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of the jurisprudence on evictions and alternative accommodation, and the contingent obligations on municipalities in respect of the provision of alternative accommodation. It is hoped that the report might act as a to guide activists, communities and public interest law practitioners caught up in eviction related struggles, as well as local government officials who are tasked with devising and implementing housing policy. This report was written by Michael Clark. >>Read the report here and the summaryhere.

Targeting the Poor? An Analysis of Free Basic Services (FBS) and Municipal Indigent Policies in South Africa(November 2013)

This research report provides an overview of the law and policies relevant to free basic services (FBS) and municipal indigent policies in South Africa. It details the regulations and strategies around FBS - free basic water (FBW), free basic electricity (FBE), free basic sanitation (FBSan) and free basic refuse removal (BRR) - and examines the framework policy and implementation guidelines for municipal indigent policies. The report also contains a survey of 137 municipal indigent policies in South Africa that highlights the numerous problems encountered with the implementation of indigent policies and the provision of FBS, including: targeting methods of FBS, municipal systems of indigent application, conditionalities attached to indigent status and FBS, and FBS amount provided. The report finds that indigent policies tend to restrict FBS to people who already own property, when the greatest need exists among those who do not. The application and documentation requirements to access indigency support are excessive, and the system is designed to restrict rather than expand access to FBS. While the professed aim of the indigent framework is to “target” the poor for the provision of basic services, its overall effect is to target them for exclusion. This report was written by Kate Tissington. >>Read the report here and the summary here.

‘Jumping the Queue’, Waiting Lists and other Myths: Perceptions and Practice around Housing Demand and Allocation in South Africa (April 2013)

This research report by the Community Law Centre and SERI analyses perceptions and practice around housing demand and allocation in South Africa, looking at the policies and processes operating at national, provincial and local level. Politicians and officials responsible for housing policy, at all levels of the state, have sought to create the impression that housing allocation is a rational process, which prioritises those in the greatest need, and those who have been waiting for a subsidised house the longest. The ideologically (and emotionally) charged concepts of ‘the waiting list’ and ‘the housing queue’ are emblematic of this. However, the situation is far more complicated. This report attempts to unpack some of the complexity and provide recommendations to government departments at all levels. It argues that the housing waiting list is a myth and should be eradicated from public discourse on housing in favour of a more nuanced way of characterising the rational, appropriate and humane responses to the broad range of housing needs in South Africa, which are not currently catered for by the market. >>Read the main reporthere and the executive summary here.

Making a Living Research Reports

Experience of Food Vendors during Lockdown: A Snapshot of the Cape Town, Johannesburg and eThekwini Municipalities (2020)

This report was compiled by SERI together with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) and Asiye eTafuleni for Informal food system workstream of the C19 People’s Coalition Food Working Group. The report examines the status quo related to bylaws, licensing, law enforcement and health support amongst informal street vendors in three main metros.

Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency

1. The Promised Land: Ratanang Informal Settlement (April 2019)

2. Our Place to Belong: Marikana Informal Settlement (April 2019)

The report concludes with provisional directions for upgrading. It indicates Marikana-specific implications and also provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

3. Left Behind: Siyanda Informal Settlement (April 2019)

The report concludes with preliminary directions for upgrading. It indicates Siyanda specific upgrading issues and provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

4. Here to Stay: A Synthesis of Findings and Implications from Ratanang, Marikana and Siyanda (May 2019)

Informal Trade in South Africa: Legislation, Case Law and Recommendations for Local Government (June 2018)

This report responds to the fact that municipalities have struggled to fully come to terms with the law relating to informal trade. The report unpacks court judgments which have substantially contributed to the rights of informal traders and identifies a range of legal principles governing the rights, duties and obligations of informal traders, law enforcement officers and local government. The report dispels a number of longstanding myths associated with informal trade, including the belief that the law does not grant protection to foreign nationals who participate in informal trade, that informal traders often act illegally or unlawfully while trading, and that the only regulatory mechanisms available to local government are the impoundment of traders’ goods and the eviction or relocation of traders. The report concludes with various recommendations that have been drawn from case law. The report was developed in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SAGLA), and was written by Tim Fish Hodgson and Michael Clark. >>Read the full report here.

Towards Recommendations on the Regulation of Informal Trade at Local Government Level: A Discussion Document (June 2018)

In 2017, over 1.1 million South Africans worked as informal traders. Informal trade therefore makes up a significant component of the economy and has an important role to play in addressing some of South Africa’s most pervasive developmental challenges, including high levels of unemployment and poverty. Local government has a pivotal role to play in facilitating informal trade. For this reason, this report provides a set of recommendations to local government on how informal trade can be regulated in a manner that respects the rights of informal traders, and is just, humane and inclusive. With knowledge of the law, local government can alter their approach to informal trade by supporting and nurturing this essential sector while also boosting economic growth. This report was developed in collaboration with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and was written by Michael Clark. >>Read the full report here.

'The End of the Street?' Informal Traders' Experiences of Rights and Regulations in Inner City Johannesburg (September 2015)

This report provides a portrait of informal trade in the inner city of Johannesburg. In 2013, informal traders were evicted on a mass scale from the city’s streets as part of Operation Clean Sweep. The City of Johannesburg explained the operation as an effort to rid the inner city of crime and grime. During the eviction of traders, and the subsequent refusal to allow them to resume their trade, the City failed to follow the consultative processes required by the Businesses Act. The operation was later lambasted in a Constitutional Court judgment as an act of “humiliation and degradation”. This report investigates the regulation of informal trade in the inner city, as well as traders’ daily experiences of making a living there, in order to explore the impact of the prohibition and restriction of trade being pursued by the City. It argues that the regulation of informal trade is restrictive, non-consultative, orientated towards enforcement rather than development, and that it is instrumental in producing illegality. Further, by foregrounding the experiences of traders, it exposes major gaps in informal trading policy in the city and in the way in which informality has been imagined more broadly. The report argues that the challenges of informal trade can be addressed if the City improves the way in which it is regulated. There are, however, also deeper problems with the ways in which informality is imagined and approached by the City, and the state more generally. The report shows that an investigation into how prohibition or relocation may effect traders, as set out in the Businesses Act, is both possible and necessary. The report was written by Dennis Webster. >>Read the full report here and the summary here.

Criminalising the Livelihoods of the Poor: The Impact of Formalising Informal Trading on Female and Migrant Traders in Durban (February 2011)

This research report examines the impact of attempts to formalise street trading in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality since 2000 on the livelihood of traders, particularly female and migrant traders. Durban has been at the forefront of developing policies to manage and control informal economy activities; however, as the report notes, the effect of the push for formalisation is exclusionary and mimics the influx control regimes of the apartheid administration, which prevented black communities from pursuing business opportunities in central business districts. Such regulation has a particularly adverse effect on migrants and poor women, since they struggle to meet the requirements for registration, permits and rentals. The report provides some recommendations for policy-makers, city officials and traders. The report was written by Blessing Karumbidza. >>Read the full report here.

Expanding Political Space Research Reports

Listen to Us! Reflections on protest in democractic South Africa (September 2023)

Double Harm report This publication us adapted from a protest exhibition entitled “Insurgent Citizens: Reflections on Protest in Democratic South Africa” put together by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in March 2019. The exhibition provided a compelling visual narrative that both examined the history and practice of protest, as well as challenged popular assumptions and myths associated with it. This publication is an attempt to convert the exhibition into a more permanent and easily shareable format. The exhibition's contents have been updated to include more recent protest movements and reflect on the 10th anniversary of the Marikana massacre.

Research and conceptualisation of the exhibition was conducted by former SERI staff members Michael Clark, Alana Potter and Maanda Makwarela, as well as Edward Molopi (SERI research and advocacy officer). Photos of the exibition were taken by Edward Molopi and Ethel Arends and the production of the exhibition was done by Eland Design. Thato Masiangoako (SERI researcher), Nick Budlender (Consultant) and Lauren Royston (SERI director of research and advocacy) developed this publication. Special thanks to the Nelson Mandela Foundation for their support of the exhibition and the production of this publication. In particular, we would like to thank Ann-Young Maharaj, Lee Davies, Verne Harris and Razia Saleh for their generosity and efforts. >> Read the report here.

Informal Settlement: Norms, Practices and Agency

1. The Promised Land: Ratanang Informal Settlement (April 2019)

2. Our Place to Belong: Marikana Informal Settlement (April 2019)

The report concludes with provisional directions for upgrading. It indicates Marikana-specific implications and also provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

3. Left Behind: Siyanda Informal Settlement (April 2019)

The report concludes with preliminary directions for upgrading. It indicates Siyanda specific upgrading issues and provides more general indications for upgrading policy and implementation.

4. Here to Stay: A Synthesis of Findings and Implications from Ratanang, Marikana and Siyanda (May 2019)

A Double Harm: Police Misuse of Force and Barriers to Necessary Health Care Services during Student Protests (October 2017)

This report documents the injuries caused by the often disproportionate and unlawful use of force by police officers called in to disperse campus-based protest at the University of the Witwatersrand in September to November 2016. It also deals with attempts to provide crucial medical assistance to injured protestors, and documents cases in which these efforts were obstructed by, or as a result of, the police. The report further emphasises the traumatic and long-term health consequences of some of the injuries incurred as a result of the misuse of police force. The findings of the report raise serious questions about the appropriateness of the deployment of police to regulate campus-based protest and highlight the need to proactively plan for how to deal with casualties and ensure speedy access to independent and competent medical care once police have been called onto university campuses —otherwise, obstruction and delays would inevitably compound harm. The report was written by Dr Mary Rayner, Prof Laurel Baldwin-Ragaven and Dr Steve Naidoo. >> Read the full report (including an executive summary) here.

An Anatomy of Dissent and Repression: The Criminal Justice System and the 2011 Thembelihle Protest (June 2014)

This research report examines the week-long protest in Thembelihle, near Lenasia, Johannesburg which took place in September 2011. Frustrated by an unaccountable and unresponsive local government that frequently disregarded the community’s on-going demands for access to adequate basic services, Thembelihle residents took to the streets. Their demands, however, were dismissed by local and provincial government and met with a forceful police clamp-down. In the aftermath of the protest, arrest and criminal prosecution (often on frivolous charges) was used to harass and intimidate community members and to target community leaders, marking an alarming trend in which the criminal justice system is used by the government to suppress popular dissent. This highlights the growing trend of state repression of popular protests in poor urban areas and details how the state employs the criminal justice system to vilify, criminalise and suppress local communities advocating for socio-economic development. This report was written by Michael Clark. >>Read the full report (including an executive summary) here.

Research Reports

Securing a Home Research Reports

Making a Living Research Reports

Expanding Political Space Research Reports

Litigation

Research

Advocacy