Legal Articles and Guides

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.

Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Acting Judge Norman Davis has thrown out Genesis’ defamation case against the Council for Medical Schemes and rebuked the medical scheme for engaging in time-wasting and costly litigation. A Business Day report says the scheme petitioned the court to compel the regulator to remove ‘defamatory statements’ from its website.

Port Elizabeth cyclist Christian Moolman (59) – who suffered severe and debilitating injuries after an unknown vehicle, presumably a truck, crashed into him in November 2013 – has been awarded more than R4m in damages. The Herald reports in addition, the Eastern Cape High Court (Port Elizabeth) ordered the RAF to foot the bill for Moolman’s legal fees, as well as give an undertaking that it would pay any future medical bills or future accommodation in a nursing home.

The Law Society of SA (LSSA) is concerned at allegations made against attorneys at last week’s joint sitting of Parliament’s Appropriations and the Health Committees, and is seeking a meeting with the committees to discuss what it claims are unsubstantiated and sensationalist allegations with regard to medical negligence claims.

A student whose application to study at the University of KZN Medical School was rejected by the university has been unable to convince the SCA to overturn the decision. Niekara Harrielall was appealing a ruling by the KZN High Court, notes a News24 report. She wanted the High Court to review and set aside the university's decision because it had failed to properly consider her application.

Axed Buffalo City Metro municipal manager Andile Fani has vowed to go after city officials in a bid to clear his name following a scathing ruling by the SCA. A Daily Dispatch report says Fani was suspended and subsequently fired by the metro after it accused him of flouting the Municipal Finance Management Act by appointing Cape Town-based Asla Construction (Pty) Ltd without following proper procurement procedures.

The Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System (eNatis) has already started crumbling‚ with some vehicle licensing centres affected‚ due to Tasima's stalling in handing over the system to the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). This is according to an affidavit by the corporation's boss‚ Makhosini Msibi‚ filed in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), notes a TimesLIVE report.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) this week placed the estates of personal injury lawyers Ronald and Darren Bobroff under provisional sequestration, according to a report by investigative journalist Tony Beamish on the Moneyweb site. It notes the father and son duo are fugitives from justice who fled to Australia last March when the Hawks requested that they hand themselves over to be arrested.

Emergency call centre operators have testified they were at the receiving end of verbal abuse and racial slurs from estate agent Vicki Momberg, who faces charges relating to her offensive conduct directed at a police officer who tried to assist her after a smash and grab incident. According to a Beeld report, Momberg has appeared in the Randburg Regional Court on four charges of crimen injuria.

Twenty-two illegal miners operating in the Free State have been convicted for a two-year operation in which they stole R120m worth of gold from a disused mine. The men were sentenced after they were found guilty on 577 charges which relate to racketeering‚ money laundering‚ contraventions of the Precious Metals Act and the Criminal Procedures Act, says a TimesLIVE report.

Two cases from the 1800s – one involving a stolen ostrich and one a borrowed horse that fell into one of Grahamstown’s potholes – have established that you can sue for damages even when driving a vehicle not belonging to you, says a Daily Dispatch report.

Parents who lose a foetus younger than 26 weeks do not have the right to bury or cremate the remains – but that could change. A Pretoria News says the remains are regarded as medical waste and accordingly disposed of by a hospital. However, the question on what should to happen to the remains of a foetus due to pregnancy loss at 26 weeks or earlier is now due to form the subject of a legal battle.

The RAF has been ordered to pay more than R5.1m and full further medical costs of Johann de Wet (19), who was in an accident with his parents and brother in 2002 when he was five, Beeld reports. Johann was the only survivor and was adopted by a family in the Western Cape.

The Western Cape High Court has ordered that a full public participation process will have to take place to determine whether tree felling at Tokai Forest will resume, says a Cape Argus report. Judge Patrick Gamble’s ruling follows the battles between community-based organisation Parkscape against SA National Parks (SanParks) and Mountain To Ocean (MTO). Parkscape has been lobbying for trees and shade in the area.

The Constitutional Court yesterday heard two appeals by state officials imprisoned for contempt of court, but whose sentences were wholly suspended on condition they comply fully with the court orders. Courts face a major challenge of non-compliance with judgments against the state and other public bodies, notes a TimesLIVE report. Although money judgments cannot be enforced against the state through contempt of court proceedings‚ courts are not powerless to ensure compliance with court orders.