Legal Articles and Guides

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.

If one majority religion is practised in school assemblies‚ then any pupil who asks to miss the assembly is forced to say they are different. Advocate Johan du Toit SC was pressed on this in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) as he defended six Afrikaans schools’ right to promote a Christian ethos‚ including Bible readings, at assembly, notes a TimesLIVE report.

The MEC for Health has to pay R18.2m in damages to a mother whose son was born more than 10 years ago with severe brain damage as a result of lack of oxygen. A Pretoria News report says Jessie Makhoba initially claimed more than R26m in damages in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) following the negligence of the staff and doctors at the Pholosong Hospital in Brakpan.

District Six claimants who have been waiting for homes for more than 20 years have warned Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti to stop rewarding claimants with ‘shoddy houses and back-hand deals’. A Cape Times report says about 700 claimants gathered at a meeting organised by the District Six working committee on Saturday, where it was made clear that claimants will no longer tolerate delays in the restitution process.

The University of Zululand has taken a former lecturer to court in a bid to stop him ‘defaming’ the institution and vice-chancellor Professor Xoliswa Mtose. The Mercury reports the university also wants Hlakaniphani Jamile to tender a public apology for and retract statements which, it claims, he caused to be published in the press. The case came before the KZN High Court (Durban) on Friday.

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism has launched a constitutional challenge to the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (Rica), notes Daily News. In a report on the Mail & Guardian Online site, the applicant and leading investigative journalist Sam Sole, himself a victim of state eavesdroppers, notes that Rica serves as the basis for the lawful interception of citizens’ communications, ‘but we contend that there are fundamental flaws in the law and that various sections are inconsistent with the Constitution’.

A legal challenge is on the cards following a decision to make English the official language of record for courts. Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s office confirmed the decision, which has already attracted criticism from AfriForum and the Pan South African Language Board, notes a Sunday Times report. AfriForum’s Alana Bailey said the pro-Afrikaans group was considering mounting a legal challenge, and Rakwena Monareng, CEO of the Language Board, said while the board would seek a discussion with the heads of courts, litigation could not be ruled out.

The NPA and murder accused Henri van Breda have applied to the SCA and the Constitutional Court to oppose an order allowing video streaming in a criminal trial, Die Burger reports. Western Cape DPP Rodney de Kock claims in his affidavit that the order of the Western Cape High Court infringes on three fundamental personal rights: the right to privacy, the right to freedom of speech and the right to a fair trial.

Ishmael Mbanjwa (29) – arrested for ‘being part of the gang' that robbed The Carousel Casino in November 2005 – will receive just more than R1m in damages from the police for wrongful arrest. A Pretoria News report says Mbanjwa instituted a R1.2m claim against the police after he was locked up for five months in prison.

Parliament has announced it has to wait until the Constitutional Court has confirmed the Western Cape High Court's landmark judgment on private dagga use before it can make any changes to the law, notes a News24 report. ‘If the two laws mentioned (the Drug Trafficking Act and the Medicines Control Act) have been found to be unconstitutional, then the Constitutional Court would have to confirm the judgment before Parliament can act,’ a spokesperson said.

The University of the Free State (UFS) acted lawfully when it adopted a new language policy in March last year‚ the SCA held yesterday when it upheld an the university's appeal against a ruling of a full Bench of the Free State High Court in July last year. The lower court reviewed and set aside the decision by the university to adopt the new policy as unlawful. The policy replaced Afrikaans and English as parallel mediums of instruction with English as the primary medium.

Parents who lose a foetus younger than 26 weeks do not have the right to bury or cremate the remains – but that could change. A Pretoria News says the remains are regarded as medical waste and accordingly disposed of by a hospital. However, the question on what should to happen to the remains of a foetus due to pregnancy loss at 26 weeks or earlier is now due to form the subject of a legal battle.

More than five years after the Constitutional Court ordered that the residents of Ekuthuleni Shelter be provided with alternative accommodation by the City of Johannesburg, residents have again approached the court. A Business Day report says this time they are challenging the constitutionality of the conditions imposed on them in the alternative accommodation allocated to them.

Following the latest ruling by the SCA, the way has been paved for former Eastern Cape farmer Ivor Phillips (82) to be awarded almost R15m for land he was forced to sell as part of the apartheid government’s doomed homeland scheme, says a Daily Dispatch report.

Judgment has been reserved in a matter where three landowners are seeking relief from thousands of illegal occupants in Philippi on the Cape Flats. A Weekend Argus report says close to 60 000 Marikana informal settlement dwellers – represented by the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA – are respondents in the matter where landowners Iris Fischer, Manfred Stock and others, as well as Coppermoon Trading, approached the Western Cape High Court to either evict the occupiers from the land or to grant an order directing the state to purchase the occupied land at market value.