Crime and Justice

The dignity of work and workers is a common value among the faith traditions. It is also the focus of a policy handbook titled Convergences: Decent Work and Social Justice in Religious Traditions, for which the World Council of Churches (WCC) has collaborated with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Next to the biblical nativity stories, Dr. Seuss’ story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the most popular stories during Christmas time. This story has been one of my favorites, and it is one that we read, along with the biblical nativity stories, as a family on Christmas Eve.

Victory for Abahlali baseMjondolo - Defeat of our detractors!

We celebrate the victory that the shack-dwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has won in court today where ALL of the 'Kennedy 12' have finally been acquitted of ALL charges against them.

The prosecution case in the trial of the Kennedy 12 is heading for collapse.

This follows a three-day hearing in which three state witnesses testified before magistrate Sharon Marks at the Durban Magistrates' court.

Under cross examination from defence attorney, Advocate Jimmy Howse, state witness Thembi Sibongile Nxumalo admitted that she is in the habit of falsely incriminating innocent people.

Fourteen-year old Gudiya Putul is not in Kingston, Jamaica attending the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), but her name and history were brought to the attention of some IEPC participants Saturday during a workshop about economic injustice and human trafficking.

Putul (not her real name) is originally from a village in West Bengal, India. Her bad days began when her father died two years ago.

The number of people killed by police has increased by nearly half since 2004, according to a report on crime set to be released by the South African Institute of Race Relations.

The South Africa Survey, which is to be released next week by the SAIRR, shows that in the financial year of 2003/2004, 380 people were killed as a result of police action.

By the 2008/09 financial year this had peaked at 612 deaths and then fell back to 566 in the 2009/10 year -- an overall increase of 49 percent.

Four prisoners from the St Albans prison in Port Elizabeth celebrated National Corrections Week by cleaning and fixing the Rockland Primary School yesterday.

The prison has “adopted” Rocklands Primary as its community project and inmates who are skilled in carpentry, electrical engineering and plumbing will go to the school every year during National Corrections Week to do maintenance.

“The school is disadvantaged and we decided to clean it up and do a few restorations such as fixing windows, doors and roofs.

People all over South Africa have been asking the leaders of Abahlali baseMjondolo as to why the government continues to ignore the demands of the shack dwellers. They have been asking why after all the marches, statements, reports and meetings the Kennedy Road settlement continues to get burnt down through the endless shack fires. They have been referring in particular to the recent Kennedy Road shack fire on Sunday, 4 July 2010 that took four lives, leaving more than three thousand people displaced and homeless.

Deep concern over the recent death of Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and the "increased oppression against Congolese human rights defenders" during the past year was expressed by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 4 June.

Chebeya was the executive director of La Voix des Sans-Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), one of the DRC's most important human rights organizations.

Written by Emma Pomfret, Christian Aid (Thursday, June 3, 2010)

The first black South African to hold the position of Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Natal, and chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal Christian Council (KZNCC), Rubin Phillip is currently in the UK to raise awareness about the plight of the Durban-based shack-dweller movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo.