Legal Articles and Guides

The City of Cape Town is waiting for the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to determine a date to rule on whether independent power producers (IPPs) can supply the city with electricity. A Cape Times report says the city has taken Energy Minister Jeff Radebe and the energy regulator to the High Court to challenge the status quo that allows municipalities to purchase from IPPs only if they have ministerial approval.

Malusi Gigaba, former Home Affairs Minister, was 'incorrect' in granting members of the Gupta family early naturalisation, MPs have decided. The National Assembly's Home Affairs Committee did not recommend sanctions against Gigaba but recommended that criminal charges be laid against Gupta lieutenant Ashu Chawla and members of the Gupta family 'relating to false information submitted in their early naturalisation applications', reports News24.

Makhanda pensioner Monameli Ndumo (70) has taken Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa to court to challenge the Grahamstown name change to Makhanda. According to a Daily Dispatch report, Ndumo – who co-chairs an organisation called Keep Grahamstown Grahamstown – said the entire process had been fatally flawed.

A settlement agreement between the City of Tshwane and its controversial smart metering supplier Peu Capital Partners was made an order of the High Court yesterday, says a Moneyweb report. In terms of the order, the city may now remove the meters supplied by PEU and install new meters for the almost 13 000 Tshwane customers, mostly large power users, who have been supplied with electricity through the PEU system.

Four security companies have launched an urgent application at the Western Cape High Court in a bid to prevent the city of Cape Town from implementing a new security tender. A Cape Times report says the 2017 tender was for providing security services to about 3 000 facilities owned or used by the city, as well as various events held under its banner.

Legal advice given to the City of Cape Town reveals that the development plan for Maiden’s Cove was irregular and the City was advised not to proceed with the development. A Cape Argus report notes legal advisers JJ Gauntlett SC QC and FB Pelser said in papers: ‘We consider that the process followed to date with regards to the Maiden’s Cove development is irregular and will be set aside on review. This despite the delay.’

The access restriction fees in Tshwane were definitely not exorbitant and had been calculated in terms of the municipality’s tariff policy. A Pretoria News report says this is according to the city in its response to the application by Residents Against Crime, which asked the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to take the metro to task regarding its ‘unreasonable and exorbitant’ tariffs on access restriction applications (to gated communities).

The governing body of Grey College in Bloemfontein was on the receiving end of a severe hiding in the Free State High Court this week in connection with its attempt to curtail the powers of its principal, notes a Volksblad report. Acting Judge-President Cagney Musi declared the governing body had acted unfairly and unlawfully during a meeting at which it was decided that Deon Scheepers should be relieved of all ‘delegated’ powers and in future focus only on academic matters at the school.

The Durban Anti-Cell Mast Alliance (Dacma) lobby group has launched an application in the KZN High Court (Durban) seeking an urgent review of what it says was a ‘secret deal’ between cellphone company MTN and the eThekwini Municipality which resulted in a proliferation of cell masts across the city.

The Western Cape provincial Standing Committee on Transport and Public Works will tomorrow hold its first public hearings into the National Land Transport Amendment Bill aimed at regulating e-hailing services, which include Uber and Taxify.

A disgruntled tenderer, who lost out on a R500m contract for the expansion of Durban's Dube Tradeport, was given a judicial reprimand for making ‘spurious allegations’ against the Dube CEO and the company which was given the contract.

National government has taken control of North West, a move the Sunday Times notes is the first time an entire provincial administration has been taken over. At the same time, two-thirds of the province’s municipalities are being taken over by the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, says the report.

Western Cape High Court Judge Taswell Papier has ordered Prasa to make available audio recordings of a board meeting held on 1 December 2017. A GroundUp report says the case was brought by #UniteBehind, which claimed the recordings ‘will prove whether or not the board took the decision to disband the Legal Panel of Prasa’.

The City of Cape Town’s determination to allow four extra ‘intrusive’ floors on a city centre building is proving a costly business. After losing a Western Cape High Court case with costs a year ago, the City Council appealed to a full Bench and last week it lost again – also with costs, says a Times Select report.

DA MP Phumzile van Damme says her party has ‘submitted an application to MultiChoice in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to request the full report it relied on for terminating its contract with Gupta-owned ANN7’.