Legal Articles and Guides

Controversial drunk-driving Judge Nkola Motata has handed all our dodgy judges a reprieve, even if it turns out to be temporary, notes Daily News. Thanks to his latest challenge – this time at the Constitutional Court – against the JSC conduct tribunal, action against other judges accused of misconduct is stymied, says a TimesLIVE report. Motata has asked the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the convening by the JSC of a tribunal to examine his conduct.

The Randburg Magistrate’s Court has dismissed an application for a discharge by Preshalin Naidoo‚ the man accused of causing the death of Top Billing presenter Simba Mhere, says a TimesLIVE report. Naidoo faces charges of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving following the death of Mhere and his friend‚ Kady-Shay O’Bryan‚ who was a passenger in the car Mhere was driving.

Four men wrongfully arrested in Beacon Bay and detained at the East London police station in December 2015 for five days without being charged have won a R0.5m settlement against the Minister of Police. A Daily Dispatch report says the men had initially each demanded R550 000, citing pain and suffering as a result of the arrests. However, the Eastern Cape High Court (East London) ruled that the department pay them each R120 000.

Members of the EFF's Gauteng Provincial Legislature yesterday laid 94 charges of murder against the province's Premier and former Health MEC. A News24 report notes that a day after Premier David Makhura announced that 94 mentally ill patients had died after they were moved from the licensed Life Esidimeni healthcare facility to 27 unlicensed NGO’s, the provincial EFF's leadership said he should face criminal charges.

Whether Advocate Gerrie Nel, who resigned from the NPA this week to set up a prosecutions wing for lobby group AfriForum, will be able to operate as planned depends on AfriForum clearing several legal obstacles. The Criminal Procedure Act sets stringent requirements before a private prosecution can begin, notes a TimesLIVE analysis of what is required before a prosecution can proceed.

Handed life sentences for committing heinous murder crimes, a group of Westville prisoners are using education as a tool to fight for their independence – and their release on parole. A Sunday Tribune report says they have used knowledge gained from their studies while serving long-term sentences to draft and file court papers against the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha, in a bid to force his department to speed up their parole applications.

An anaesthetist who caused the death of a small boy by administering an incorrect drugs dosage has been sentenced to four years imprisonment, suspended for five years. A Beeld report says Dr Deon Kotzé will also have to serve 18 months of community service in a provincial hospital in Sasolburg and undergo a formal refresher course in paediatric life support at an academic institution.

A nurse who kicked, slapped and elbowed an elderly woman (84) at the luxury Lily Kirchmann home for the frail in East London has been found guilty on five counts of assault. A News24 report notes that Hope Shepherd's daughter Bernice Robertson had hidden a camera in her mother's room because she suspected that she was being abused.

A former security company manager in Cape Town who plotted to kill his business partner has succeeded in getting his jail term cut, notes a TimesLIVE report. Grant Smith was sentenced in March 2015 to an effective seven years for conspiracy to murder Alan Kusevitsky‚ owner of City Bowl Armed Response‚ in 2008.

Ford broke the law when it failed to tell the National Consumer Commission (NCC) of Kuga owner Reshall Jimmy’s death – and potentially jeopardised public safety by not telling the motor industry ombudsman. ‘It is clear that Ford was obliged to inform the commission of Jimmy’s death. They failed to do so. It has failed to comply with the law,’ Colonel Rozelle Kruger‚ a legal officer in the Western Cape Police Commissioner’s Office, is quoted as saying in a BusinessLIVE report.

AfriForum says it will help any person to open criminal charges after it laid hate speech charges yesterday against 12 people following comments on social media. The organisation laid charges of incitement to murder‚ incitement to violence‚ and crimen injuria at the Lyttleton police station in Pretoria‚ after it had collected complaints from various people, says a TimesLIVE report.

Controversial KZN guesthouse owner Andre Slade‚ who is facing hate speech charges over his views that whites are superior to blacks‚ plans to sue the government and media for branding him a racist, according to a TimesLIVE report. Slade made headlines in June 2016 over an e-mail sent to a prospective client seeking accommodation at the Sodwana Bay Guest House – in which he said blacks and government employees were not allowed to stay there – was published on social media.

The government is considering reclassifying drunk driving as a serious crime on the same level as rape and murder following news yesterday that 1 714 deaths – a 5% increase on the previous year – were recorded on the roads during the holiday season.

A dispute over a multimillion rand deal that went sour sparked a racism row and led to a prominent former Robben Islander spending hours behind bars just days before Christmas, according to a Sunday Times report. Politically-connected businessman Peter-Paul Ngwenya, who spent almost five years on the island, is embroiled in a fight over stakes in three lucrative radio stations with Fani Titi, chair of specialist banking group Investec and of Kumba Iron Ore.

Ishwarlall Ramlutchman – convicted of fraud and corruption – stands to lose millions after the SCA ordered that an inquiry be held to determine how much money should be confiscated from him, says a report in The Mercury. Ramlutchman might have thought his assets were safe after both the trial court and the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) ruled that his assets could not be confiscated because the state had not determined the exact amount by which he had benefited through his fraudulent activities.