Legal Articles and Guides

A geography teacher at St John’s College in Johannesburg – found guilty on three serious charges‚ including racism – has been fired‚ says a TimesLIVE report. This followed a visit to the school last week by Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi‚ who reportedly gave the school an ultimatum until 1pm on Friday to sack the teacher. Welcoming the decision‚ Lesufi said the educator had left the school with immediate effect.

A father who asked the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) to stop his two sons being expelled from a private primary school in Johannesburg has lost his case. The court ordered that the boys be taken out of Pridwin Preparatory School by the end of the year, notes a TimesLIVE report.

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.’

barrier to some pupils gaining access to private schools, according to a Weekend Argus report. ‘We do not regulate fees of private education institutions.

AfriForum and Solidarity have approached the Constitutional Court to appeal against the SCA judgment giving the go-ahead for the University of the Free State to implement its English language policy, Volksblad reports. University spokesperson Lacea Loader said the university’s senior management and lawyers were attending to the filed application for leave to appeal.

Private schools are entitled to recover debt through the forced sale of homes owned by defaulting parents, the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) ruled yesterday, says a News24 report. The application, before KZN Judge President Achmat Jappie, was brought by St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg against Henry and Gleryl Du Hecquet De Rauville. They had two sons at the school, who had both matriculated.

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.

Should private schools be legally entitled to attach the parents’ home to enforce payment of school fees? The Witness reports this question is under consideration in the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) where Judge President Achmat Jappie has reserved judgment in a matter he described as having ‘very wide’ implications.

Multilingualism will be the main thrust of AfriForum's argument when the issue of the language policy at the University of the Free State (UFS) is argued in the SCA today, says a Volksblad report. The UFS is appealing an order by the full Bench of the Free State High Court that the new policy of English as the primary medium of instruction be set aside.

The Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) yesterday effectively shut down Port Elizabeth independent school EduPlanet because it remains unregistered. A Daily Dispatch report says the provincial education department brought the urgent High Court interdict to stop EduPlanet from operating the unregistered independent school as a vital first step in its battle against unregistered schools.

The true intention of Stellenbosch University benefactor Jan Marais is at the centre of the pending court battle about the language policy of the instituion. Rapport reports that the applicant, Equal Opportunities, and council chairperson George Steyn offer different interpretations of Marais’ will in their court papers.

An interim interdict prohibiting rape protesters at Rhodes University from unlawful behaviour‚ including intimidating‚ kidnapping and assaulting others‚ was dismissed almost in its entirety yesterday, says a TimesLIVE report. The Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) confirmed the interdict‚ in an abridged form‚ against only three named students‚ Sian Ferguson‚ Yolanda Dyantyi and Simamkele Heleni.

The Department of Education is in trouble with the law after its teachers ignored a Chapter Nine institution order to stop discriminating against pupils belonging to the Nazareth Baptist (Shembe) Church. The Mercury reports 13 schools in the province have been accused of forcing pupils who are members of the church to cut their hair. This after they had been warned that they were interfering with pupils’ right to practise their religion.

Five Rhodes University students spent most of their weekend behind bars after being arrested on charges ranging from assault to malicious damage to property after numerous incidents on the campus. A Daily Dispatch report says two of the students allegedly brawled with campus security guards early on Saturday morning, while a third allegedly later assaulted a woman police officer.

Parents were back in the Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) on Friday demanding that Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) reopen its doors, discipline protesters, and get more security on campus. A Saturday Dispatch report says the Concerned Association of Parents and others representing Tertiary Education at Universities (Captu) want the court to order the university to reopen and resume all academic activities within 48 hours, to appoint additional security, to call in the police when necessary, and to take disciplinary steps against students acting unlawfully.