Municipality has tried to back out of settlement to buy unlawfully occupied buildings By Tania Broughton An agreement made an order of the court last year required the City of Ekurhuleni to buy 16 unlawfully occupied buildings using provincial funds. The agreement put an end to years of legal wrangling between the City, the province, the occupiers and the owners of...

Judge Desai found that South African Human Rights Commission monitors trying to enter the site were acting lawfully By James Stent The Western Cape High Court has criticised the City of Cape Town for its treatment of human rights monitors at its camp for homeless people in Strandfontein. The court also dismissed interdicts granted to the City last year which prevented...

Activists picketed outside the department’s regional office in Cape Town on Monday to demand better upgrades By Mary-Anne Gontsana Rape Crisis and supporters protested in Cape Town on Monday. They want the Justice department to fulfil its promise to make services at the sexual offences court in Khayelitsha safer and more accessible to all survivors. The department says it has made...

The court overturned a will written 119 years ago which stipulated that only male descendants could inherit By Tania Broughton The Constitutional Court last week overturned a clause in a will written 119 years ago, which specified that only male descendants could inherit the family’s farms and properties. At the heart of the matter was the issue of freedom of testation in private...

Rape survivor argues police did not investigate properly By Tania Broughton On Tuesday the Constitutional Court will hear the case of Ms K, who was repeatedly raped in Port Elizabeth in 2010. She argues that the police failed to act fast enough or to investigate her case properly. She won damages in the Port Elizabeth High Court but the Supreme Court...

But the CEO of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services can still be disciplined by the Justice Department  By Tania Broughton The Constitutional Court has confirmed, in part, that the law affecting the independence of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services falls foul of the Constitution. Parliament now has 24 months to amend provisions of the Correctional Services Act which effectively makes the...

The court has ruled that these employees can claim from the Compensation Fund if injured while on duty. The ground-breaking judgment also ensures domestic workers can apply retrospectively. By Musawenkosi Cabe “It’s unbelievable. We feel like flying, we are so happy. I nearly broke into song inside , breaking the law…” These were the words of 77-year-old Eunice Dhladhla,...

The Grootboom case resulted in a landmark judgment that protects the rights of evicted residents. But 20 years later, the hopes Justice Zak Yacoob laid down are far from being realised. By Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon On 18 May 1999, bulldozers arrived on a farm called New Rust, outside Wallacedene in the Western Cape, and began demolishing the homes of its unlawful occupiers....

Judges emphasise that procedural fairness must be upheld By Tania Broughton A magistrate ruled that a husband accused of abuse by his wife must leave the family home. The Western Cape High Court overturned the magistrate’s ruling. When evicting an alleged abuser in a case of domestic violence an informed assessment must be made and basic fairness applied, the judges ruled...

 By Tania Broughton For years, law firm Sinama and Associates pursued a land claim with “no shred of evidence”, ending in a loss for the claimants A 14-year land claim legal battle has ended in a loss for the claimants and an extraordinary court order barring their lawyers from claiming any fees. The claim against 19 landowners in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, mainly dairy...