Legal Articles and Guides

Almost 10% of murders can be linked to vigilante attacks that have surged in Cape Town townships. A Cape Argus report notes that last week, four men were killed when members of the Marikana informal settlement in Philippi East took the law into their own hands. The community said they were sick of being targeted by criminals and the police’s response was unsatisfactory.

President Jacob Zuma's protracted legal battle of close to 10 years to avoid prosecution on charges that include corruption, racketeering, money laundering and fraud continues in the SCA today, notes a report on the IoL site. The charges stem from Zuma allegedly receiving inducements to use his real or perceived political influence to affect the award of contracts for the 1999 arms deal.

Private student grant payment company Intellimali has laid a charge of theft over the R14m allegedly paid to a student by mistake, spokesperson Brigadier Marinda Mills said yesterday, notes a News24 report. ‘The case has been assigned to a seasoned investigator and the standard investigative procedures will now be followed,' said Mills.

The police are hoping to finalise the R1bn claims to the Marikana victims soon, with some families already paid and others still to be paid, says a report in The Mercury. SAPS officials told Parliament yesterday they hoped to conclude the processes soon and the actuaries were working out the figures. The official told the Police Committee that several million rands had already been paid out to some of the people.

The DA has applied for direct access to the Constitutional Court to have the diplomatic immunity granted to Zimbabwe's First Lady Grace Mugabe set aside. A News24 report says it filed papers claiming that International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane's decision to let Mugabe off the hook for alleged assault was ‘wholly without legal merit’, and should be declared invalid.

Three young men appeared in the Barkly West Magistrate’s Court this week for allegedly poaching an extremely rare black oryx, believed to be the only one of its kind in SA and valued at around R8m, on a game farm outside Kimberley last year.

Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Judge Neil Tuchten has dismissed the application by 14 inmates of Kgosi Mampuru ll Prison seeking to be transferred from segregated detention back to communal cells. The Star reports the inmates were part of a larger group that staged a protest over delays in the processing of parole application at the centre in July.

AfriForum yesterday filed a review application at the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) asking the court to set aside a decision by Minister of International Relations and Co-operation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to grant diplomatic immunity to Grace Mugabe. A TimesLIVE report says Gabriella Engels‚ who was allegedly assaulted by the Zimbabwean First Lady in a hotel room in Johannesburg – and whom AfriForum is assisting in the matter – argued in a statement to the court that the Minister misinterpreted Section 7(2) of the Diplomatic Immunity and Privileges Act and she did not have the power to grant immunity to Mugabe.

Three relatives of former policeman Mohamed Ebrahim were arrested yesterday and appeared in Durban’s Commercial Crime Court. Ebrahim is facing charges of defrauding the Road Accident Fund R6m after allegedly pretending to be a quadriplegic. A News24 report notes the state alleges his wife Asha (51), son Junaid (32) and daughter-in-law Nerosha Nohar (33) defrauded the fund out of R435 000 through invoices they submitted for payments for ‘taking care’ of him.

A ‘fake quadriplegic’ accused of defrauding the Road Accident Fund of millions of rands appeared briefly before the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court yesterday. The Mercury reports Mohamed Ebrahim (56) was expected to apply for bail but his case was postponed to later this week. Ebrahim stands accused of feigning injuries, as a result of an accident the state has alleged he was not even involved in, so that he could claim from the RAF.

Enviroserv could be fined millions of rand – and some of its senior officials sentenced to jail terms – should the criminal case against it, in connection with its Shongweni landfill site, succeed. The Mercury reports the case came before Magistrate Stanley Hlophe in the Durban Regional Court yesterday, when State Advocate Yuri Gangai announced that four more accused were being added.

The NPA has revealed that its Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) had frozen two hidden bank accounts in Israel, containing around R100m, of fugitive fraud suspects Ronald Bobroff and his son Darren, says report on the IoL site. ‘The huge freezing order was the result of excellent co-operation between both the South African and Israeli authorities,’ the NPA said.

Taxpayers will have to pay for the pain inflicted on a Mahikeng man by the police, which started with a complaint by a neighbour that he had assaulted his stepdaughter (3). According to a report on the IoL site, Petrus Tshisi was left with injuries across his body, before he was thrown into a police vehicle and locked up in a cell for a few hours. Tshisi claimed R1.2m in damages from the Police Ministry, saying the incident not only left him with physical scars, but post-traumatic stress disorder as well.

Confusion between the police and the NPA over who should make the call to arrest Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana may have kept him out of jail yesterday. A Cape Times report says Manana has admitted to assaulting a young woman, Mandisa Duma, at Cubana Restaurant in Fourways at the weekend. An NPA spokesperson claimed the NPA had not received the docket by 4pm yesterday afternoon.

Coastal operations manager Clive Kidd is the latest Enviroserv official to be criminally charged alongside the company on several allegations of contravening environmental legislation at the Shongweni landfill site, according to a Sunday Tribune report. It notes that in April, the NPA charged waste management giant Enviroserv and its chief executive, Dean Thompson.