Judge expected to rule next week on whether Oak Valley case will be heard in Labour or Equality Court By Tariro Washinyira and GroundUp Staff Next week Judge Owen Rogers will rule on whether a case between Oak Valley and its workers will be heard in the Labour or Equality Court. It may seem a mere technicality, but a lot is at stake. For the...

1982 law criminalised free speech By Zoë Postman In a unanimous judgment, read by Justice Leona Theron on Tuesday, the Constitutional Court declared Section 1(1)(b) of the Intimidation Act of 1982 unconstitutional and invalid because it unjustifiably limited the right to freedom of expression. The section of the Act states that persons will be guilty of an offence if they act in a...

The Supreme Court of Appeal has declared Home Affairs’s prohibition on asylum seekers marrying unconstitutional By Muchengeti Hwacha If you are an asylum seeker whose application for asylum in terms of Section 21 of the Refugee Act has not been finalised, you are still permitted to enter into a marriage. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) affirmed this in a judgment handed down in...

Understanding the complicated in duplum rule By Athalie Crawford If you borrow money and the interest accumulates to equal the amount you borrowed, can you still be charged further interest? This is dealt with by the in duplum rule, and it is complicated and changing. The rule kicks in when a person has been defaulting on loan repayments. In the first place, it’s important to distinguish between...

Can an accused be convicted of rape for being part of a group with a common intent to rape? By Ohene Yaw Ampofo-Anti The Constitutional Court has been asked to rule on whether or not the doctrine of “common purpose” can be applied to rape: in other words, whether or not people who share the intent to rape can be convicted of...

Judges reaffirm right of accused to be brought to court within 48 hours By Ciaran Ryan The Constitutional Court, in August, ordered the Minister of Police to pay R300,000 plus interest for the wrongful arrest in 2012 of Bryan de Klerk after a charge of assault was lodged against him by an employee, Rael Lasarow. This judgment provides police and magistrates with greater clarity over...

The same conduct by someone other than a parent towards the same child would be indefensible assault By Zoë Postman In a landmark judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court declared that parents may not spank their children. The court declared the common law defence of “reasonable and moderate chastisement” — which allowed parents to spank their children with the justification that it was...

They allege that City of Cape Town officials have confiscated their private property in violation of a court order By Raymond Joseph An urgent application by seven homeless people to have Cape Town’s Mayor, a member of the Mayoral Committee and the City’s head of safety and security imprisoned for 30 days for contempt of court will be heard in the Cape...

City argues that court doesn’t have jurisdiction to do that By Lucas Nowicki On Thursday the High Court in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) heard an application by the Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) to dissolve the Makana Municipal Council for violating its constitutional mandate by failing to provide basic services to the community. The UPM is calling for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional...

The state’s case against the family of drowned schoolboy is “insensitive”, says Justice Navsa By Ciaran Ryan The Limpopo education department came in for sharp criticism from Supreme Court of Appeal judge Mahomed Navsa on Monday over the death of four year-old Michael Komape in a school pit toilet in 2014. “The Department has not exactly covered itself in glory with respect to...