Helen Suzman Foundation

The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) is a South African human rights and rule-of-law organisation founded in 1993, named after the anti-apartheid activist and Progressive Party MP Helen Suzman. Headquartered in Johannesburg, it pursues constitutional litigation and research on South African institutions, with a particular focus on the criminal justice system, police oversight, and immigration rights. The foundation is one of the most active non-governmental litigants in South Africa's constitutional framework.

The HSF has been a primary litigant against the Department of Home Affairs in multiple cases since 2022. Most prominently, it co-litigated with the Scalabrini Centre to protect Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders against non-renewal, securing court orders that have prevented the DHA from terminating ZEP status for an estimated 180,000-200,000 Zimbabwean residents. The foundation also litigated in response to the DHA's March 2026 concession (Directive 7 of 2026), which it welcomed as relief for individuals while maintaining that structural capacity failures remain unaddressed.

For the nomad-and-communities topic, the HSF functions as the primary accountability institution tracking the gap between ministerial promises on DHA reform and operational delivery. Its litigation record is the evidence base that Jaco Brits and other immigration practitioners draw on when assessing DHA credibility.