Nov
27
2018
Constitutional Court ruling overturns Home Affairs directive
By Ohene Yaw Ampofo-Anti
If you are an asylum seeker and your application to be a refugee is refused, you are still allowed to apply for a visa. The Constitutional Court ruled this in a unanimous judgment handed down in October.
Background
The case was brought by three asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status had been refused. They...
Nov
23
2018
Gwede Mantashe is concerned about mining being halted, but the judgment is an incentive for the industry to change the way it operates
By Wilmien Wicomb
South Africans have spent much of 2018 debating whether the Constitution must be amended to explicitly provide for expropriation of land without compensation. Lost in this debate is the reality that thousands of South Africans have...
Nov
22
2018
Government and companies must obtain “full and informed” consent from communities before granting mining rights, says judge
By Zoë Postman
In a landmark judgment on Thursday morning, the North Gauteng High Court ruled that the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) has to obtain “full and informed” consent from communities under customary law before granting mining rights to companies.
Members of the Amadiba Crisis...
Nov
21
2018
Interdict application to halt operations at the Somkhele coal mine thrown out with costs
By Fred Kockott
A high court bid to close down Somkhele coal mine on the border of Hlhulhuwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal was yesterday dismissed with costs.
The interdict application to halt operations at the Somkhele coal mine – one of the country’s largest suppliers of anthracite – was brought...
Nov
20
2018
The ruling will help people hold peaceful protests without fear of getting criminal records
By Wilmien Wicomb
On Monday, after five years of court battles, ten people who protested without permission in 2013 finally could rest easy that they would not get criminal records. Here’s an explanation of what the Constitutional Court judgment in the case known as SJC10 means.
Section 17 of the Bill...
Nov
19
2018
Ten Social Justice Coalition members who chained themselves to Cape Town civic centre will not have criminal records
19 November 2018 By Zoë Postman
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the failure to give notice of a protest should not be made a criminal offense.
The judgement, delivered on Monday morning in a case that has become known as the SJC10, was unanimous....
Nov
17
2018
Right2Know leads march against municipality’s protest fees
By Zoë Postman
Dozens of people marched from John Ross Park to the Johannesburg City Council in Braamfontein on Friday morning, to protest the municipality’s charging of fees to protest.
The protest was led by Right2Know (R2K).
R2K demanded that the municipality stop charging fees for protests immediately. The group demanded the right to give notice of...
Nov
13
2018
Our court system is frustrating, slow and technologically backward
By GroundUp Editors
South Africans are rightly proud of our independent judiciary. It has, with some notable individual exceptions, avoided the descent into corruption and disintegration of state institutions that took place in the Zuma era.
But our court system is frustrating, slow and technologically backward. This is unnecessary. Here are some ways it...
Nov
12
2018
Woolworths should have considered alternatives, says country’s highest court
By Mluleki Marongo
Dozens of workers retrenched by Woolworths in 2012 must be reinstated. The Constitutional Court ordered this on 6 November, nearly six years after the retrenchment.
The case was between the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (SACCAWU) and Woolworths.
Woolworths employees used to work full-time for the company, 45 hours a...
Nov
08
2018
Punitive costs award against state
By John Yeld
The government’s hush-hush approval last year of a new coal mine within a critical biodiversity and water conservation area in Mpumalanga has been reversed by the North Gauteng High Court.
In a judgment handed down in Pretoria on Thursday, an application by a coalition of eight environmental and social justice groups for the review and...