Case 5612/94 Supreme Court Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division (1993-1994) (10 files).

In this matter the client had incurred a judgement against her arising from a debt owed to debt collectors Snyman and Partners. The LRC brought a Supreme Court application to have the judgement rescinded. This was one of many such test cases the LRC took on to challenge the debt collecting practises of Snyman and Partners. The matter was settled with the default judgement being rescinded and Snyman and Partners agreeing to pay the LRC's costs.

This item comprises 10 files:

File 1: Correspondence and file notes.

File 2: Statements and affidavits.

File 3: Instructions to counsel.

File 4: Memorandum on standard practises of Snyman and Partners.

Files 5-10: Indexed bundle of pleadings and supporting documentation.

The LRC was consulted by several residents of a sectional title block whose owners had rented out their flats to non-whites. The body corporate then gave individual owners one month to comply with the provisions of the Group Areas Act. This attracted much press attention, and the LRC advised tenants to wait it out. Eventually the body corporate backed down.

This item comprises one file of correspondence, notes and press clips.

Case LAH 30/2/0014 Agricultural Labour Court (CT) (1994-1996) (2 files).

In excess of 50 employees were dismissed by Stellenbosch University from their experimental farm. An application was launched in the agricultural court that the dismissal was unfair and that there had been discrimination on both gender and racial lines. The university agreed to reinstate them and to investigate its own practises. The clients were reinstated but subsequently retrenched, although receiving more money and a promise of reinstatement if more work materialised. The matter was not pursued further.

This item comprises 2 files:

File 1: Correspondence and notes.

File 2: Process and pleadings.

Jonathan Phillips died of an intracerebral haemorrhage at Pollsmoor Prison. The Human Rights Commission referred the case to the LRC to investigate whether there was negligence on the part of the Correctional Services. The Human Rights Commission had received numerous complaints about medical negligence at prisons and felt that this was a strong public interest case. The LRC accepted the case. In order to determine negligence, it would have been necessary to exhume the body. However, the LRC failed to receive further instructions from the client, Berenice Phillips, and thus were forced to close the file.

File includes statements, file notes and correspondence.

Cases 918/86; 3302/87 Supreme Court Cape of Good Hope Division (1986-1989) (5 files).

The client was detained by members of the SAP on suspicion of stealing money from mailbags locked in postbags at a railway station. He was taken to a nearby farm and systematically beaten and tortured over a period of five days before taking him to the railway police holding cells at Cape Town harbour. He was sent to hospital for treatment, and a doctor referred him to the LRC. An urgent application was brought for his release, which was granted (case 918/86). A civil case for damages was opened (case 3302/87) but was then handed on to another firm of attorneys who managed to obtain a large settlement on behalf of client. Client was in the meanwhile arrested and convicted for the theft.

This item comprises 5 files:

File 1: Correspondence and file notes.

File 2: Statements.

File 3: Counsel's briefs.

File 4: Process and pleadings.

File 5: Medico-legal documents.

Case 1395/85 Supreme Court Northern Cape Division (1985-1989) (19 files, 3 boxes).

In this matter the LRC filed a damages claim against the Minister of Law and Order resulting from an incident in De Aar in 1985 in which police shot at a group of three women standing in their back yard during the unrest that took place there at that time. As a result, the client lost one of her eyes. Originally all three women were represented, but two withdrew their claims. The matter was settled out of court when the defendant agreed to pay the client the amount of R20 000-00.

This item comprises 19 files:

Files 1-3: Correspondence and file notes.

File 4: Statements and medical records.

File 5: Briefs to counsel.

Files 6-8: Pleadings.

Files 9-16: Transcript of case K 1395/85.

Files 17-19: Police docket, evidence, and other police documents.

Case 14779/91 Supreme Court Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division (1991) (14 files, 2 boxes).

The LRC assisted the client in bringing an urgent application against the third respondent to stop construction of a saw mill on the Stuurbrak Commonage, in an area which had been set aside for a children's project, and against the first two respondents in that they had illegally given permission to the third respondent to use the land for the purpose of constructing and operating a saw mill. An environmental impact assessment was also carried out, which showed irreparable harm would be done to the region. An order was granted in terms of which the third respondent had to cease constructing and operating the saw mill. A writ of execution was served on the third respondent.

This item comprises 14 files:

Files 1-2: Correspondence and file notes.

Files 3-7: Pleadings.

File 8: Affidavits and impact assessment.

Files 9-14: Bundles of trial documents.

Beulin Sam, a schoolgirl, was shot by the police at the same time that Desmond Gudula was unlawfully shot in Upington in 1985 (see 2.1.2.22). The mother, Flora Links, approached the LRC in 1990, to see if the LRC could help her with a civil claim. No civil claim could be brought at such a late stage. File includes Inquest Record.

The LRC intervened on behalf of a large group of people who had taken up residence in unused hostels belonging to BHB Ko-op, a farmers' cooperative, in Hermanus (Zwelihle). The owners took steps to evict them, as they wanted to sell the hostels. The LRC indicated that it would resist the eviction if alternative accommodation was not found. The sale of the hostel then fell through, resulting in a stay of the eviction and the local authority getting involved in establishing an informal settlement to address the needs of the many homeless people in the area.

This item comprises one file of mostly correspondence between the various parties, as well as a report compiled on the needs of the homeless people in the area.

This item comprises 1 file of cases of police misconduct reported to the Black Sash Peace Accord monitoring group, where there had been violations of the Peace Accord by the police. The LRC monitored some of the investigations by the investigating unit set up under the Peace Accord and reported back to Black Sash.