It will be “catastrophic” if municipality loses R493-million grant, Amathole activists say

The municipality may have to forfeit the conditional grant due to underspending By Daniel Steyn The Amathole District Municipality (ADM) risks losing a R493-million conditional grant because it has failed to spend the first R100-million portion. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant was allocated to the municipality in July by the National Treasury. A large section of the Wild Coast runs through the district, including...

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Concourt asked to strengthen independence of prisons inspectorate

Sonke Gender Justice asks judges to declare part of Correctional Services Act unconstitutional By Zoë Postman On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court was asked to declare unconstitutional sections of the law which limit the independence of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services (DCS) and hinder its role of oversight of the prisons. On 5 September...

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Parents can’t spank their children, Constitutional Court says

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...

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