Legal Articles and Guides

Alleged fake lawyer Brenda Wardle, who regularly provided legal analysis for prominent news organisations for years, was yesterday adamant she would conduct her own defence in her fraud trial involving more than R0.5m. Not only will Wardle prepare her own papers for trial, she told the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court that she also wants to conduct her own defence at her intended bail appeal.

Luxury game lodge Kichaka has lost a vital court battle to continue its access to land owned by the family that founded the American Heinz dynasty. A Daily Dispatch report notes from Tuesday next week, guests staying at the Kichaka Lodge face the inconvenience of having to circumnavigate a massive portion of land bought by the Heinz-Youness family if it wants to view game on the rest of the conservancy.

Legal challenges to Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane are piling up, with the Chamber of Mines yesterday lodging an urgent application to halt the Minister’s proposals to ‘restrict’ the granting of new mineral and prospecting rights, freezing mining transactions.

Penguin Random House SA acted swiftly yesterday to withdraw Dr Vejay Ramlakan’s book as legal action looms. The Star reports this came after the executors of Nelson Mandela’s estate – Justice Dikgang Moseneke, Advocate George Bizos and Judge Themba Sangoni – stepped in to consider laying a complaint with the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) and the SANDF.

Taxi app company Uber’s business model is in the spotlight after the CCMA ruled its drivers are employees of the company, Rapport reports. CCMA Commissioner Winnie Everett held that the CCMA has jurisdiction over disputes raised by Uber drivers and that the company’s drivers are fully protected by labour legislation.

In what a Pretoria News calls a ‘scathing’ attack on the Law Society of the Northern Provinces regarding its failure to act against its former president Ronald Bobroff and his son Darren Bobroff for close to five years, two judges last week ruled that the society had to foot the legal Bill for some of the applications brought before court.

Former President Nelson Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel, has threatened to sue Mandela’s doctor Vejay Ramlakan over his newly released book, Mandela’s Last Years, according to a City Press report. Ramlakan reportedly details Mandela’s last years, including intimate moments prior to his death. Machel has slammed the book, saying it is degrading and tarnishes the image of the struggle icon.

The Constitutional Court’s decision in Baron and others v Claytile (Pty) Limited and Another is a missed opportunity to enhance the usefulness of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Esta) as a tool that can enable farm dwellers to take control of their lives. The Act recognises that the farm dweller’s rights to live on commercial farmlands are precarious.

Prasa is demanding more than R2.6bn from the company that provided the locomotives which were unsuitable for the country’s rail network. A report in The Times says this comes just a week after the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) found that the tender was rigged and specifically designed to favour Swifambo Rail Leasing and its ‘joint venture’ partner‚ Spanish locomotive manufacturer Vossloh Espaa.

Former employees of a brick plant in Cape Town have lost their five-year battle to hold on to their farm homes, notes a TimesLIVE report. Yesterday the Constitutional Court said they should move 30km from Muldersvlei‚ near Klapmuts‚ to Wolwerivier‚ near Atlantis‚ which they argued is too far from their children’s schools and their workplace. A spokesperson for Lawyers for Human Rights‚ which represented the ex-employees‚ said the judgment was disappointing.

The Cape Town Magistrate's Court has instructed the City of Cape Town to submit a report for alternative accommodation for a group a families facing eviction in Woodstock. According to a GroundUp report, Mark Owen – the lawyer representing the families – had asked the court to make this order. More than 50 people living in a block converted into apartments on Albert Road were served with eviction notices in March and April to vacate their homes for not paying rent. But the residents have accused the landlord of neglecting to maintain the property.

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 businessman accused of colluding with Mercantile Bank in alleged illegal asset stripping worth hundreds of millions of rand said he will ‘vigorously defend this action’ as he believes the case ‘is based on unfounded allegations’, says a Fin24 report. Alert Steel is seeking damages of R351m allegedly caused by businessman Rayhaan Hassim, his company West Lake Trade and Investments, and Mercantile Bank following what it believes was an illegal liquidation process in 2014.

In an unusual case, a father has been barred from smoking in front of his children. According to a Beeld report, the father brought an urgent application before the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to force his estranged wife to place their children in his care until 23 July. The couple’s eldest child has a physical disability and the father told the court that he wanted to contribute to the specialised care the child needs, but the mother was refusing to allow the children to stay with him.

In what a Pretoria News report calls a victory for the media, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ruled that all child offenders, victims and witnesses may be identified once they have turned 18. Twelve media houses scored this victory following an application by the Centre for Child Law, Childline SA and the young woman who became known to the country as Zephany Nurse, launched legal proceedings to protect the identities of children even after they had turned 18.