Legal Articles and Guides

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.

Media groups and NGOs took the issues of parliamentary signal-jamming and censoring of live broadcasts to the SCA yesterday, notes Daily News. Primedia‚ the SA National Editors Forum‚ the Right2Know Campaign and the Open Democracy Advice Centre approached the court to ensure live broadcasts from Parliament were not censored and that signal jamming devices were not used to block journalists using mobile phones, as had been the case during EFF disruptions of President Jacob Zuma’s State of Nation Address in February 2015.

This week’s victory for suspended Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) executive director Robert McBride in the Constitutional Court is the latest in several cases the government has lost before the court in recent months, according to a TimesLIVE report. Before the latest judgment‚ the court in March ruled that the failure by President Jacob Zuma to comply with the remedial action ordered against him by the Public Protector concerning the improvements at his Nkandla home was inconsistent with the Constitution.

The Western Cape High Court has dismissed an application to stop a forensic report the state believes would confirm that a Parow pastor ran an illicit multi-million Ponzi scheme promising people high returns on investments. A Cape Times report says the legal team representing Colin Davids, of New Direction Grace Church, was objecting to an Ernst & Young forensic report being handed in as part of the state’s evidence.

In a ruling seen as a boost for the independence of police watchdog Ipid, the Constitutional Court yesterday confirmed Police Minister Nathi Nhleko did not have the legal power to suspend Ipid head Robert McBride. The court declared McBride’s suspension invalid and set it aside. It also rejected Nhleko’s arguments that – notwithstanding that the suspension and disciplinary proceedings were unlawful – they should remain in place because of the claimed seriousness of the allegations against him.

Home Affairs has agreed at the eleventh hour to grant citizenship to a stateless child born in SA, opening the way for others in the same predicament, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) said yesterday, according to a News24 report. Following a two-year wait, the SCA was supposed to have heard the matter yesterday.

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.

New papers in the battle between Eskom, French nuclear specialist Areva and its competitor Westinghouse over the R5bn tender to replace six steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear plant were filed in the Constitutional Court yesterday, says a Business Day report. Westinghouse applied to submit what it said was crucial new evidence showing that Eskom had made false claims on the safety issue in its argument.

The Eastern Cape High Court (East London) was meant to hear the rape and murder case of Sakhumzi Mhlamvana, a matter set down for the whole week before Judge Lusindiso Pakade (68). But The Herald reports after waiting for hours yesterday for the judge to arrive, officials were finally told that he had resigned.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has issued a final interdict against veteran documentary producer Sylvia Vollenhoven in terms of which she may not distribute or broadcast the documentary Project Spear, commissioned by the public broadcaster, notes a Pretoria News report. The SABC was due to broadcast the documentary in September 2012, but gave various reasons for not doing so, including that it would open the broadcaster to defamation claims as there were allegations that could not be substantiated.

A single ‘slanderous’ e-mail accusing a manager of gender bias has come under the legal spotlight in one of the first cases unpacking the provisions of SA’s relatively new anti-harassment laws, says a report in The Mercury. And while the KZN judge tasked with considering the matter agreed that the content of the e-mail was not true, she said the law required that there be some ‘repetitive element’ to the conduct or, if it was a single act, that it must be ‘overwhelmingly oppressive’ and have the same impact on its victim as if being ‘physically stalked’.

The DA's planned legal action against the Cabinet decision to re-appoint Dudu Myeni as SAA chair will be based on the argument that it was "wholly irrational", notes a BDlive report. DA leader Mmusi Maimane said yesterday the party was of the "strong opinion that there is prima facie case to be made that Ms Myeni's re-appointment is wholly irrational, given her appalling performance as SAA board chairperson over the past four years ... overseeing the airline"s steady decline".

The case against former Advocate Karabo Tau (39) was postponed in the Bloemfontein Magistrate"s Court to 14 September. A News24 says Tau faces charges of corruption, extortion, impersonating an advocate, and conspiracy to commit an offence. He was arrested in Bloemfontein last week after he was allegedly approached by the families of nine people found guilty of the theft of diesel and racketeering.

A woman who says her "husband" gave her the impression that they were legally married for several years now has the go-ahead to attach some of his assets, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ordered. According to a Beeld report, Michelle van Tonder, from Secunda, obtained a final order against former lover Patrick John Fann. The court authorised the sheriff to attach money in Fann"s Absa account to the value of R345 000 and pay it over to Van Tonder.

Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) Deputy Judge-President Phineas Mojapelo handed down a seminal contingency fees judgment this week, clarifying precisely how a legal practitioner"s success fee should be calculated and whether VAT was payable by the client or by the attorney, reports Tony Beamish for Moneyweb.