Legal Articles and Guides

Any patient-related information within the doctor-patient relationship is sacrosanct, and must be respected, even after death. A Cape Times report says the SA Medical Association (Sama) said this following the release – and subsequent withdrawal – of a book detailing the last days of former President Nelson Mandela. The book was written by former SANDF surgeon-general Dr Vejay Ramlakan, who was part of the medical team treating Mandela in the months before his death.

Penguin Random House SA acted swiftly yesterday to withdraw Dr Vejay Ramlakan’s book as legal action looms. The Star reports this came after the executors of Nelson Mandela’s estate – Justice Dikgang Moseneke, Advocate George Bizos and Judge Themba Sangoni – stepped in to consider laying a complaint with the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and the SANDF.

Former employees of a brick plant in Cape Town have lost their five-year battle to hold on to their farm homes, notes a TimesLIVE report. Yesterday the Constitutional Court said they should move 30km from Muldersvlei‚ near Klapmuts‚ to Wolwerivier‚ near Atlantis‚ which they argued is too far from their children’s schools and their workplace. A spokesperson for Lawyers for Human Rights‚ which represented the ex-employees‚ said the judgment was disappointing.

In what a Pretoria News report calls a victory for the media, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ruled that all child offenders, victims and witnesses may be identified once they have turned 18. Twelve media houses scored this victory following an application by the Centre for Child Law, Childline SA and the young woman who became known to the country as Zephany Nurse, launched legal proceedings to protect the identities of children even after they had turned 18.

Doctors have accused SA’s biggest medical aid schemes of spying on them and sneaking hidden cameras into their consulting rooms. The healthcare practitioners also claim the schemes are guilty of withholding payment from doctors without proof of misconduct. A Sunday Times report says these claims are contained in documents filed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) by the National Healthcare Professionals Association, in a claim against 19 medical aid schemes.

The use of cellphones in prisons was one of the concerns expressed by KZN High Court (Durban) Judge Esther Steyn when she handed down a 31-year prison sentence to a man who haunted his ex-girlfriend through Facebook messages while in prison, says a Daily News report. Steyn said something needed to be done about it.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has ruled public schools cannot promote one religion. The case was brought by the Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy (Ogod) against six schools, notes a News24 report. Judge Willem van der Linde, in handing down the judgment, said: ‘Neither a school governing body nor a public school may lawfully hold out that it subscribes to only a single particular religion to the exclusion of others.’

The government plans to introduce a salary cap on the percentage that can be ‘attached’ by creditors using emolument attachment orders to collect debt, notes a BusinessLIVE report. The Courts of Law Amendment Bill proposes that no more than 25% of a debtor's salary can be attached, no matter how many attachment orders they may have against them.

The Black Sash Trust says it is disappointed by the court’s decision to refuse its application for leave to appeal an earlier ruling which allowed Net1 to deduct money from the accounts of social grant beneficiaries, notes a report on the IoL site. In May, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruled against the order by the Department of Social Development and Sassa to stop Net1 from allowing deductions from accounts of grant beneficiaries.

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has refused to enforce an ‘accelerator’ clause in a home loan agreement based on a 2016 Constitutional Court judgment making it much more difficult for banks to take back the homes of defaulters, a Beeld report notes.

Following on from the judgment in the Prince v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others case there is a lot of confusion as to whether dagga (cannabis) remains an illegal drug in South Africa, fuelled in part by conflicting media reports.

The SCA, which is wrestling with an appeal against a Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruling in favour of bail for Chris Hani’s killer Janusz Walus, was told yesterday Walus had been stripped of his SA citizenship. ‘Representatives of the Department of Home Affairs confirmed it,’ Advocate Roelof du Plessis SC told Judges Christiaan van der Merwe, Jeremiah Shongwe, Mandisa Maya, Boissie Mbha and Ashton Schippers.

The alleged sexual assault victims of the late philanthropist and stockbroker Sidney Frankel had their dignity violated by a section in the Criminal Procedure Act which prevents their complaints from being prosecuted after 20 years of the event. According to a TimesLIVE report, this is the view of Anton Katz SC‚ counsel for eight people who claim Frankel sexually assaulted them when they were between seven and 15 during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has set aside an eviction order granted against 84 men‚ women and children living at 8 O’Reilly Street‚ Hillbrow‚ in Johannesburg’s inner city‚ the Socio-economic Rights Institute (Seri) said. According to a TimesLIVE report, it said the court held that the eviction order should not have been made without the City of Johannesburg being part of the proceedings.

Differences in meaning of the prepositions ‘at’ and ‘by’ support the argument that six public schools contravene the Constitution with their policies on teaching religion, the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) heard yesterday. During closing arguments, Hendrik van Nieuwenhuizen, for the Organisation for Religious Education and Democracy (Ogod), quoted section 15.2 of the Constitution, according to which ‘religious observances’ may be conducted ‘at’, and not ‘by’ public schools, says a report on the News24 site.