In what a Pretoria News report says is yet another legal victory for those whose ID documents were illegally blocked by Home Affairs, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), has once again ordered the department to unblock the IDs of 142 clients of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR).

The court gave the ruling last week and ordered Home Affairs to do so within 20 days.

The judgment – handed down by Judge Elmarie van der Schyff in the matter of Phindile Mazibuko and others – follows months of the department’s non-compliance with a previous court order in the Mazibuko case.

LHR notes since January Home Affairs has failed to comply fully with the orders to investigate and unblock the IDs of hundreds of individuals, effectively stripping them of their constitutional rights and dignity.

The latest ruling came after LHR returned to court because of the department’s non-compliance.

While the court did not find the department in contempt, it confirmed that Home Affairs had failed to unblock IDs by the deadline.

The court also addressed a crucial issue of inconsistency, as Home Affairs said it had unblocked some of the IDs in July this year.

However, the LHR said the numbers kept changing, causing confusion and concern.

As a result, the court has demanded an affidavit from the department by 27 September, explaining exactly which IDs had been unblocked and when that had been done.

Full Pretoria News report in The Star