Legal Articles and Guides

A R4 000-a-month domestic worker is taking her multimillionaire former boss to court for gender discrimination, according to a Sunday Times report. Nathan Lazarus, founder and chair of the Ram courier company, has already paid Nellie van Zyl R12 000 for unfair dismissal. But now the 56-year-old mother of six is taking him to the Equality Court, saying she suffered post-traumatic stress and depression after a confrontation with Lazarus’ son Michael.

Ncebakazi Makhebesana (44) – who faced a 15-year jail sentence for fraud involving more than R4m – got away with a suspended prison sentence following a plea bargain, but not without a severe rebuke from Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, notes a report on the IoL site.

Djavan Arrigone, who was found guilty of urinating on a taxi driver from the balcony of the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Cape Town in January 2014, has been sentenced in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court to a three-year wholly suspended sentence, on condition that he performs 200 hours of community service. A Cape Argus report says Magistrate Siviwe Yaki found that imprisonment would do more harm than good for Arrigone, considering that he was still young and a first offender.

Donald Khobane – who stole R3m from ATMs which were assigned to him, claiming he was under the influence of a ‘spiritual healer’ – has been granted leave to appeal against his 15-year jail sentence for theft, says a TimesLIVE report. Khobane had been employed by Nedbank as an ATM consultant and his job was to balance and replenish the cash at nine ATMs assigned to him in Johannesburg.

Dodgy lawyers are stealing hundreds of millions from their clients by looting trust accounts, claims a Sunday Times report. It says Peter Cowling and Christiaan Janeke are the latest lawyers to be struck off the roll, and are facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing at least R65m from their clients, many of whom were pensioners.

Western Cape High Court Judge Vincent Saldanha has highlighted the urgent need for police officers to protect victims of domestic violence. A report in The Citizen notes that he sentenced Bongani Dodo to 15 years behind bars for murdering his wife (29) and mother of their two children in 2013. Saldanha said Zuziwe Gobelo had been ‘another victim of the failure of some members of the police to properly respond to the complaints of victims of domestic violence’.

Two police officers from Ladysmith and the Minister of Police have been found liable for damages caused to a man the officers assaulted and bound to a washing line pole, before setting a fire around him. The Mercury reports Mthobisi Thungo sustained burns on his calves, the back of his right thigh and to his fingers.

So drunk was Mark Donovan Ramdass the night he killed his girlfriend, Ashika Singh, that he cannot be held accountable for his actions. On Friday, Ramdass walked out of the KZN High Court (Durban) a free man, according to a report in The Independent on Saturday. Ramdass was accused of murdering the Merebank resident (35) by strangling her and placing a plastic bag over her head in March 2014.

President Jacob Zuma finds himself in a corner today following the damning Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) judgment yesterday which struck the names of two senior officials from the roll of advocates, notes Daily News. The court removed the names of Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba and Specialised Commercial Crime Unit head Lawrence Mrwebi from the roll‚ following an application by the General Council of the Bar (GCB).

A single mother of three children who admitted stealing more than R400 000 from her employer has won the first fight in her battle to stay out of prison, notes a TimesLIVE report. Moshina Essop was sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court to 10 years' imprisonment but only half the sentence was suspended‚ and yesterday the SCA gave her permission to appeal to the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg).

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ordered that sequestration proceedings begin against the former directors of Aurora Empowerment systems for mismanagement of Pamodzi Gold mines, says a BDlive report. The decision brings some closure to thousands of mineworkers who lost their jobs, trade union Solidarity said. A deal had also been reached with Khulubuse Zuma for the payment of R23m in damages to the Pamodzi and Aurora liquidators, the union said.

The Durban woman whose k-word tirade directed at black law enforcement officers was caught on a cellphone recording wants to plead guilty to the charges she is facing, says a TimesLIVE report. Vicki Momberg's lawyer‚ Nardus Grove‚ told the Randburg Magistrate’s Court that his client wants to enter into a plea agreement with the state. ‘My instruction is to enter into a possible plea. We are waiting for an (psychologist) expert report‚’ Grove said.

As it "has now been almost half a year" since his party laid corruption charges against Atul and Ajay Gupta‚ DA leader Mmusi Maimane has written to acting National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane‚ to get clarity on progress in the matter. "Maimane said he had requested that Phahlane "clarify the following": What progress had been made with regards to these charges; whether the SAPS had initiated an investigation; if an investigation had not been initiated, the reasons for this; if there was an investigation, who was the investigating officer; and the expected date of completion of the investigation.

A corrupt procurement officer formerly in the employ of a food company in Lambert"s Bay, who was due for retirement in December after 44 years service, has forfeited half of his R2m pension benefits as compensation for the company"s R2.6m loss, says a report on the IoL site. In addition, Daniel Jacobus Poggenpoel (63), a married father of four, was jailed for five years when he appeared in Cape Town's Specialised Commercial Crime Court before Magistrate Constance Nziweni yesterday.

A three-member Bench of the High Court of Malawi will today hear arguments on the constitutionality of section 184(1)(c) of the Penal Code. The applicant is a street vendor who was arrested on his way to sell plastic bags. The applicant"s criminal trial was subsequently stayed pending the determination of the constitutional petition he filed, submitting that the offence is outdated and vague.