Legal Articles and Guides

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.

Farmers who fix their own damaged dirt roads can – in terms of a specific court order – now send the bill to the government, says a Daily Dispatch report. Yesterday the Eastern Cape High Court (Grahamstown) ordered the Eastern Cape Roads and Public Works Department to immediately begin implementing plans to repair and maintain its extensive and largely dysfunctional rural road network.

Despite a Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) judgment criticising the practices of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency‚ the judge did not rule that all similar Aarto infringement notices issued since 2008 must be scrapped. This is according to Howard Dembovsky‚ national chairman of Justice Project SA, notes a TimesLIVE report.

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ruled that millions of traffic fines issued under the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act since 2008 must be scrapped where authorities did not comply with the Act’s conditions. The Citizen reports the ruling comes after the High Court confirmed traffic authorities have to abide by the letter of the Aarto Act, and ordered that the fines before the court must be cancelled.

The nuclear agreement with Russia has far-reaching consequences for the Budget, the Western Cape High Court heard on Friday, as it places all liability for a nuclear accident on SA, while indemnifying Russia completely. A GroundUp report says David Unterhalter SC, appearing for Earthlife Africa and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environmental Institute, which are challenging government’s nuclear procurement process, said liability for nuclear accidents fell on SA even if it occurred outside the country.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has agreed to pay Good Hope Construction R1.25m for damage its members caused during protests in Cape Town in 2015 when more than 200 NUM members went on the rampage at building sites, demanding protective clothing and payment according to skills. Good Hope instituted a R15m damages claim against the union, notes a Sunday Times report.

The legal challenge mounted by two environmental NGOs to the nuclear deal with Russia – estimated to cost R1trn – which is under way in the Western Cape High Court, has been termed one of the most significant state capture court cases SA has yet seen, according to a Daily Maverick report. The two NGOs, Earthlife Africa and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, are squaring up against Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s pursuit of 9 600 megawatts of nuclear power.

While marijuana support groups have welcomed the green light given by the government for the manufacture of cannabis for medicinal use, they have criticised the proposed guidelines attached to its usage. A Cape Argus report says the suggested framework would allow cannabis for medicinal purposes, but under strict regulations.

A new judgment could be regarded as an important victory for property owners who receive large and delayed utility bills, according to Nicholas Gangiah and Fatima Gattoo, of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, in an article on the Fin24 site. The Gauteng High Court judgment grants relief to property owners who have received exorbitant utility bills after a number of years. The case relates to the bills for estimated water consumption which was received by Argent over a period of about 5.5 years.

Western Cape High Court Judge Leslie Weinkove has recused himself from one of the high-profile cases he had been presiding over. A Cape Argus report says Weinkove – who is presiding over the ongoing contentious Bromwell Street eviction saga – came under fire after he made what had been deemed racist remarks in court last month. Weinkove questioned the evicted residents’ request to be close to crucial amenities when they are eventually forced to vacate Woodstock.

The sheriff has seized several cars belonging to the Eastern Cape Health Department, which owes a woman almost R17m in damages for medical negligence, says a Daily Dispatch report. The department yesterday vowed it would – by the end of this week – settle the outstanding amount to the mother whose child suffers from severe cerebral palsy due to medical negligence on the part of department officials.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has awarded Comair R1.16bn for anti-competitive conduct by national carrier SAA‚ Comair said yesterday, according to a TimesLIVE report. The judgment related to a case initiated by Comair against SAA 14 years ago in respect of SAA’s anti-competitive travel agent incentive schemes. Comair is the second airline to succeed in a claim against SAA concerning the national airline's anti-competitive conduct.

An emotional ‘tug-of-war’ between a separated couple over their child’s schooling ended when a KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) judge intervened as ‘upper guardian’ of the child, says a report in The Witness. The mother of the seven-year-old boy brought an urgent application this week to demand that the biological father sign and present all necessary documents to enrol the child in a certain primary school within 24 hours.

All the unlawful occupiers of a block of flats in Berea, Johanneburg, want is for the city to provide them with alternative accommodation – and, having failed in the High Court and SCA, took the matter to the Constitutional Court yesterday. The owner of the building‚ Calvin Maseko‚ has been unable to move in to renovate the building, notes a TimesLIVE report.

The upshot of last night’s violence in Parliament is that the DA plans to be in court today to challenge the deployment of the SA National Defence Force and police during the State of the Nation Address, says an SABC News report. It says DA Leader Musi Maimane explained the DA plans to launch a review application regarding the use of the police and the army... 'the decision to do that is fundamentally irrational; it has no basis in law.