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PRESS STATEMENT | Talisman Foundation faces eviction and 174 mental healthcare users at risk
The Talisman Foundation, a long-standing mental healthcare provider licensed for 200 mental health care users by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH), is facing imminent eviction from its premises in Johannesburg. Represented by SECTION27, the Talisman Foundation has occupied the property, owned by the Old Apostolic Church, for approximately 22
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PRESS STATEMENT | SECTION27 and the Life Esidimeni Families welcome the NPA’s decision to prosecute in the deaths of 141 mental healthcare users
SECTION27, together with the Life Esidimeni families, welcome the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to prosecute individuals implicated in the Life Esidimeni tragedy. This decision marks a significant step towards justice and accountability for 141 mental healthcare users who died between 2015 and 2016 following their unlawful transfer from mental health
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PRESS STATEMENT | SECTION27 launches new report on the urgent need for orientation and mobility training for blind and visually impaired learners
As we close out Human Rights Month in South Africa, SECTION27 launches a new report highlighting a gap in the country’s education system: orientation and mobility training for learners who are blind and visually impaired. The Orientation + Mobility Report argues that without this support, thousands of learners are navigating both school
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PRESS STATEMENT | Civil society and the Department of Health reach a settlement on unhindered access to Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics
The Treatment Action Campaign, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Southern Africa, and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia – represented by SECTION27, have reached a settlement with the Gauteng Department of Health and other respondents, following the contempt application heard on 16 and 17 March 2026. The settlement resolves proceedings by the applicants
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PRESS STATEMENT | Civil society seeks to hold state actors in contempt over their failure to protect access to clinics against vigilante groups
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) – represented by SECTION27 – filed an urgent contempt application after state authorities failed to comply with a High Court order issued on 4 December 2025 to restore safe and unhindered access to the Yeoville
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PRESS STATEMENT | Science and policy experts unite in Africa to accelerate climate and health solutions
African universities and regional experts are working with Wellcome to establish new science and policy consortiums that will address the escalating public health crisis driven by climate change – saving lives and livelihoods. Wellcome will provide an initial £40 million for two new consortiums in Southern and Western Africa with
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PRESS STATEMENT | Budget 2026 Invests in Services but Neglects Conditional Infrastructure Grants
True nation-building occurs when public money is used to improve the everyday conditions in which people live, learn, and receive care. After more than a decade in which fiscal consolidation, rising debt-service costs, and repeated bailouts diverted resources away from basic education and health, Budget 2026 reflects a welcome shift
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PRESS STATEMENT | MEC, Ekurhuleni v Thubakgale returns to the SCA
On Thursday, 26 February 2026, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) will hear the matter of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality v Thubakgale and Others. The Municipality has approached the Court seeking to overturn a 2023 High Court order that held it in contempt for failing to provide the respondents with houses, and ordered a fine of R1 330 000 for the contempt. The residents applied for
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PRESS STATEMENT | Launch of the Know Your Constitution Handbook: Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Constitution
Today, as South Africa commemorates the Constitution coming into effect, SECTION27 and WeThePeopleSA launch the Know Your Constitution Handbook to the South African Constitution. This constitutional literacy resource is part of a digital campaign celebrating the 30 years since the Constitution was adopted and signed in 1996, a milestone that
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PRESS STATEMENT | SECTION27 represents 50 former matric learners wrongfully accused of “group copying” at Limpopo School
SECTION27 has launched a judicial review application in the Limpopo Division, Polokwane of the High Court on behalf of 50 former matric learners from Baphutheng Senior Secondary School, challenging decisions that found them guilty of “group copying” during their final 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations. The decisions, taken by
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PRESS STATEMENT | A longer wait for cancer patients: Cancer Alliance and SECTION27 disappointed at High Court ruling
The Cancer Alliance and SECTION27 note with disappointment the judgment delivered by the Johannesburg High Court today. The judgment concerns the section 18(4) appeal lodged by the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) and the MEC for Health in Gauteng against the ruling of Judge Dippenaar delivered on 20 August 2025.
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PRESS STATEMENT | Civil society organisations welcome High Court ruling affirming the right to safe and unhindered access to healthcare
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX) – represented by SECTION27, welcome the judgment handed down today by the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, which orders the state to take immediate and decisive action to end the obstruction of access to public healthcare
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PRESS STATEMENT | Organisations call for action against unauthorised obstruction of healthcare facilities
Civil society organisations advocating for equitable access to healthcare in public facilities have launched an application at the South Gauteng High Court seeking immediate intervention to end the obstruction that has left vulnerable patients unable to access essential medical services. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and Kopanang
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PRESS STATEMENT | A Public Service That Builds a Nation Needs Investment, Not Cuts
SECTION27 notes the tabling of the 2025 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) at a time when the consequences of prolonged austerity are visible across schools, clinics and households. This year’s mini-budget offered little in the way of a meaningful shift away from the status quo that has hollowed out essential
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PRESS STATEMENT | Predators in Our Schools: Teddy Bear Foundation takes DBE and others to Court for Ignoring the National Child Protection Register
SECTION27, representing the Teddy Bear Foundation (TBF), has approached the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria seeking an order against the Departments of Social Development (DSD), Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ&CD) Basic Education (DBE), provincial education departments (PEDs), South African Council of Educators (SACE), and Educators Labour Relations Council (ELRC) to discharge
