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The Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative (CSPRI) has completed the three-year project,commissioned by the Open Society Foundation (SA), on ‘Monitoring the Implementationof the Correctional Services Act’, thus providing the Department of Correctional Serviceswith a monitoring tool to measure compliance with the Correctional Services Act of 1998.CSPRI also began audits of the awaiting-trial prison populations and criminal case-flowmanagement systems in Malawi and Zambia for the Open Society Institute for SouthernAfrica. An assessment of donor confidence in offender re-entry projects operated andmanaged by ex-prisoners was commissioned by the Embassy of Finland. The researchinvestigated the risks associated with community-based organisations operated by formerprisoners from a donor’s perspective and what measures can be implemented to addressthese risks. At the request of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights andthe CTITF, the Project developed a Basic Technical Reference Guide on detention whilecountering terrorism.Heléne Combrinck, co-ordinator of the Gender Project, was appointed as one of the keyexperts to conduct research on the legal and prosecution aspects of human trafficking aspart of an in-depth research project carried out by the Human Sciences Research Councilon behalf of the National Prosecuting Authority.The Local Government Project designed a framework for the Western Cape ProvincialGovernment in terms of which decisions on the assignment of provincial functionsto municipalities are to be taken. The Framework was then applied to the provincialfunctions of libraries and museums. This Framework was adopted as part of the ProvincialGovernment’s modernisation programme. The Project also compiled a manual on the rolesand responsibilities of the different municipal office-bearers and officials for the WesternCape’s Department of Local Government and Housing.Informing public debate on lawand policy reformOn the basis of its research, the Centre informs public debate on key issues of law andpolicy reform. On a number of occasions, parliamentary committees requested the Centre’scomments on draft legislation. In addition, Projects forwarded comments to internationalhuman rights bodies. The Centre further promoted dialogue with government by hostingroundtables on current issues of concern. Researchers’ expertise was brought to bear onthese structures through their participation in a number of government committees.At the 45th Ordinary Session of the ACHPR in the Gambia, Lukas Muntingh delivereda statement on behalf of the Centre in response to the Intersession Activity Report ofthe Special Rapporteur of Prisons and Conditions of Detention in Africa. He highlightedthe problem of sexual victimisation in African prisons, a matter about which the SpecialRapporteur is deeply concerned in the context of HIV and AIDS.The Children’s Rights Project made submissions to the Department of Justice andConstitutional Development on the Combating Trafficking in Persons Bill to ensuringthat child trafficking was defined in accordance with the Palermo Protocol to prevent,Informing public debate on law and policy reformAnnual Report 2009 23
suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. The Projectalso commented on the Regulations of the Child Justice Act from a technical logisticalperspective. In addition, the Project advised Unicef Botswana on the draft Regulations thatwould be annexed to the Botswana Children’s Act 8 of 2009.The Children’s Rights Project, as an active member of the Inter-Sectoral Committeeon Child Justice (which is chaired by the Department of Justice and ConstitutionalDevelopment), worked at the coalface of monitoring the implementation of the ChildJustice Act of 2008. In its engagement with government, the Project represented the ChildJustice Alliance, of which it is the secretariat and coordinator. The Alliance, with over 400civil society members, is the leading South African network on child justice issues.The Children’s Rights Project was an active member of the Southern African Networkon the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment and serves on the Working Group on CorporalPunishment in South Africa. The Network is a group of organisations in the Southern Africanregion that lobbies and advocates for the ban of corporal punishment, while the WorkingGroup is a South African based alliance of organisations with the same objective.Improving oversight over the prison system is key to CSPRI’s aims. To this end, CSPRIpresented submissions to the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on CorrectionalServices in response to the Correctional Services Budget Vote of 2009/10 and the Departmentof Correctional Services 2008/9 Annual Report, emphasising the need to align the budgetof the Department with the strategic plan. This has subsequently become a major issueof concern for the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services. Where the opportunityarises, CSPRI participates in activities of the Department of Correctional Services. LukasMuntingh was appointed as a member of the Department’s Task Team to develop a gangmanagement strategy. Lukas is also a member of the Section 5 Committee on Torture of theSouth African Human Rights Commission.The Local Government Project made written submissions to Parliament on two proposedconstitutional amendment bills. The Project argued that the 17th Amendment Bill, introducedto give a legal basis for the establishment of Regional Electricity Distributors, went waybeyond this goal and fundamentally undermined local autonomy. Amid much oppositionthe Bill was eventually withdrawn. The 18th Amendment Bill and accompanying StateLiability Bill sought to regulate state liability after the State Liability Act of 1957, exemptingthe state from judgment execution, was declared unconstitutional but its invalidity wassuspended for a year. The Centre argued that the Bill was flawed because, among otherthings, it sought to exclude a new State Liability Bill from constitutional scrutiny. Givenwidespread criticism, the government has obtained a further year from the ConstitutionalCourt to finalise the Bill. Furthermore, Nico Steytler and Jaap de Visser addressed the Ministerof Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in a small evening workshop, hosted bythe Minister and the Deputy Minister. During this ‘one-on-one’ engagement, the Projectwas given the rare opportunity to offer its views on district governance and the division ofauthority between the three spheres of government.The recommendations in the Project’s report on the Quality of Local Democracies, callingfor greater separation of administration and politics at local government level, wereadvocated widely before the Good Governance Learning Network, the Institute of LocalGovernment Management, the Institute of Municipal Administration in Southern Africa,24COMMUNITY LAW CENTRE
Page 1: A place of quality, a place to grow
Page 4 and 5: Messages of supportArchbishop Desmo
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Page 8 and 9: Signing ceremony of EU grant for th
Page 10 and 11: Focus areasGiven the enormity of th
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Page 14 and 15: Working with governmentOn the stren
Page 16 and 17: OutreachFrom the outset the Centre
Page 18 and 19: The people of the CentreThe Centre
Page 20 and 21: ChallengesCombining a strong academ
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Page 36 and 37: Fessha, Yonatan, 2009, “A tale of
Page 38: Mission statementThe Community Law

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