Legal Articles and Guides

The City of Cape Town, strongly opposed to the SA National Roads Agency"s (Sanral"s) plan to toll segments of the N1 and N2 in the Western Cape, says it is prepared to take its fight against tolling plans to the Constitutional Court if necessary. A BDlive report notes that in 2015, the Western Cape High Court put the brakes on Sanral"s tolling plans, when it ruled in the metro"s favour by setting aside the declaration to toll sections of the highways.

Group Five believes the outcome of its discussions with the Competition Commission on two unresolved collusion cases implicating the group is important because it would set a precedent, notes a report in Business Report. Group Five"s Cristina Teixeira said that the company"s management team and board were very aware that it would be in the interests of all stakeholders to ensure that all of the Competition Commission matters within the company were addressed and closed.

A man and a woman appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, Cape Town, before Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg yesterday in different cases, both accused of fraud against the Road Accident Fund (RAF). The man, Mninindawo Mdledle (57), of Khayelitsha, is alleged to have submitted a R525 000 claim, via his attorney, notes a report on the IoL site.

The Broad-Based Black BEE (B-B BEE) Commission established in April has already received about 100 complaints about fronting and other abuses, some of which commissioner Zodwa Ntuli has found "traumatising", notes a Business Day report. Most of the 95 complaints are from shareholders " most often employees " who were allocated significant shareholdings in order for the companies to achieve a high level of empowerment in terms of the codes of good practice.

The financially strained Road Accident Fund (RAF) says it has identified bogus claims to the value of R126m made between April and June, notes a Business Day report. The fund said the claims were detected before they were paid out. Of the 108 bogus claims detected, 100 were claims represented by attorneys. The RAF has been beset by financial difficulty and has a provision of R145bn for claims it has yet to pay. It is seeking additional funding from the Treasury to help it meet its obligations.

A last-minute scramble by the Eastern Cape Health Department to settle a medical negligence lawsuit worth R23m has saved 20 of their vehicles meant to be auctioned next week, says a Daily Dispatch report. A provincial health spokesperson confirmed they had last week paid R23m to Johannesburg-based lawyer Zuko Nonxuba after he successfully sued them for medical negligence.

Penny Sparrow made a brief appearance in the Umzinto Magistrate"s Court yesterday to face a charge of crimen injuria following her disparaging comments on Facebook about black beachgoers after a New Year"s Eve party. A News24 report says the matter was postponed to 12 September to allow her new attorney of record to consult with her, and to allow the state an opportunity to furnish the defence with the contents of the docket.

A new judgment by the Labour Appeal Court could mean an employee whose employment had been terminated, could have more convenient and affordable access to justice than under the old system. So say Bradley Workman Davies and Kerry Badal, of Werksmans Attorneys, in an article on the Fin24 site.

Former rugby star Joost van der Westhuizen has launched an urgent court bid against the Attorneys" Fidelity Fund to recoup money he says is due to him from Klinkenberg Inc, according to Rapport. Attorney Robert Klinkenberg committed suicide in December 2015 and a curator appointed by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces found a deficit of millions of rands in the trust account.

Five Chatsworth, Durban, relatives admitted in the Commercial Crimes Court that they helped a Durban-based Chinese businessman transfer more than $10m (about R135m) home illegally, says a Sunday Tribune report. The accused " Mohammed Ebrahim, Bilkis Karim, Rohaida Valley, Ebrahim Cassim and Iqbal Hoosen " who are all unemployed, pleaded guilty to charges relating to breaching the SA Reserve Bank Act. They allegedly moved large sums in multiple transactions.

The rights of a child not to be detained except as a measure of last resort have been confirmed by the Constitutional Court‚ which ruled yesterday (Thursday) that a teenager can go ahead with a claim for damages against the state, notes a BDlive report. Joyce Raduvha wants damages from the Minister of Safety and Security after she was arrested without a warrant. She was 15 at the time.

The suspension of senior managers at Eskom"s Koeberg nuclear power plant followed closely on the filing of court papers in the Constitutional Court in which Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse said Eskom had made false claims in the two companies" battle over a R5bn tender, notes a Business Day report. In the battle between Eskom and winning bidder Areva, the French nuclear company, on one side, and loser Westinghouse over the tender to replace six steam generators at Koeberg, one of the hotly disputed issues is whether a delay to their installation would pose a nuclear safety risk or would put the national grid at risk.

The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has ordered SAA to pay more than R104m plus interest to liquidated airline Nationwide for damages caused by SAA"s abuse of market dominance from 2001 to 2006. This, notes a Moneyweb report, is only the second claim of its kind in SA competition law and the first time a damages claim based on a finding by the Competition Tribunal has been litigated.

The government is facing a counter legal challenge in a dispute with Net 1 UEPS Technologies with a rights group demanding that it protect welfare recipients from companies that are allegedly selling the nation"s poorest people goods and services they don"t need and deducting payments from grants paid to them by the state, says a report on the Fin24 site.

KZN Police Commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni is back at work after her suspension was set aside by the KZN High Court (Durban) yesterday. A News24 report quotes Ngobeni's attorney, Ravindra Maniklall, as saying: "The decision to set up a board of inquiry has been set aside and the decision to suspend her has also been set aside, both permanently."