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News
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Recent
Judgments Available on the Internet
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Constitutional
Court of South Africa
-
www.constitutionalcourt.org.za
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/
12 March
2009
CCT
06/09 ;
CCT
10/09 [2009] ZACC 4
AParty and Another v The Minister for Home Affairs and Others ;
Moloko and Others v The Minister for Home Affairs and Another
12 March 2009
CCT03/09 ;
CCT
09/09 [2009] ZACC 3
Richter v The Minister for Home Affairs and Others (with the
Democratic Alliance and Others Intervening, and with Afriforum and
Another as Amici Curiae)
How expats can cast their vote - 13 March
The Times website
Pieter Mulder on the FF+'s victory in ConCourt case - 13 March
Dr Pieter Mulder, Leader of the FF Plus, expressed his gratitude
to Mr. Willem Richter and all who had been involved in this case
and for the support which the party had received from various
sections of the population. The party is immediately starting with
a strategy to make South Africans living overseas aware of the
fact that they are allowed to vote in this election and to assist
them administratively with this venture. South Africans living
overseas who have already registered as voters now have time until
the 27th of March 2009 to notify the Electoral Commission of their
absence from South Africa, as well as to notify them of where they
intend casting their special votes. They have to cast their votes
at the local South African missions in the country where they find
themselves on the 15th April 2009. -
politicsweb website
'Graft rules out expat vote' - 3 March
ranks of home affairs is one reason South Africans citizens living
abroad should not be allowed to vote, according to Minister of
Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. She revealed this in an
answering affidavit responding to a court bid by 12 South Africans
living overseas to be allowed to vote in the upcoming April 22
election. - Mail & Guardian
website
ConCourt to hear right to vote case - 4 March
The Constitutional Court will today hear arguments on the right to
vote for South Africans living abroad. The hearing is a result of
three separate applications relating to the same issue that will
be heard on the same day.
It challenges the constitutional validity of certain
sections of the Electoral
Act 73 of 1998 and the related regulations. -
The Times website
Lawyers
fight for expats' right to vote in
elections - 5 March
Constitutional Court judges worked into last night after a day of
intense argument by eight lawyers fighting over whether all South
Africans living abroad should be allowed to vote in the April
elections.
They represented Willem Richter, a Pretoria teacher
living overseas ; the Freedom Front Plus
; a group of 12 South Africans working abroad
; the Inkatha Freedom Party ; the
Democratic Alliance, who based their case on Roy Tipper, a
contract worker outside South Africa ;
Afriforum ; the Home Affairs Department
; and the Independent Electoral Commission. The judges, who
ruled last year on prisoners' voting
rights, said it was better to enfranchise than disenfranchise
people and asked for practical suggestions on how the South
Africans could be accommodated. The IEC said if the court ruled
for another period to apply for a special vote, it should not be
done later than March 31 to be able to prepare in time for the
April 22 election. - Dispatch
Online website
A triumph of generosity over mean-spiritedness - 13 March
The decision to disenfranchise overseas South Africans was a
thoroughly mean-spirited one. The old ruling clique of the ANC
clearly felt their departure to be some kind of rebuke - and so
sought to punish them. In his affidavit to the Constitutional
Court IFP leader and former Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu
Buthelezi, wrote that a senior official had explained the ANC's
rationale as follows : "they left us in
the lurch and do not deserve to vote". This petty and vindictive
attitude was carried over until recently. According to DA leader
Helen Zille IEC chairwoman Brigalia Bam had asked her in a meeting
: "why they [the IEC] should give the vote to South
Africans who ran away and who were badmouthing the country". By
contrast Judge Kate O'Regan's reasoning in the constitutional
court's judgment is broadminded and generous. She noted that South
Africa is now part of a global economy which allows citizens of
this country to study and work abroad. -
moneyweb website
24 February
2009
CCT106/08 [2009] ZACC 2
Van Straaten v President of the Republic of South Africa and
Others
Concourt dismisses attempt to save Scorpions - 26 February
Shane van Straaten brought an urgent application to declare the
National Prosecuting
Authority Amendment Bill of 2008 and the
SA Police Service
Amendment Bill of 2008 invalid. These bills disband the
Directorate of Special Operations Unit - the Scorpions - and
replace it with a new specialised crime-fighting unit. The action,
filed in December, was against the president, the minister of
justice, and the Speaker of the National Assembly - who all
ignored it. - IOL website
Amnesty policeman wants his job back - 24 February
A police officer convicted of the apartheid-era murders of the
"Motherwell Four" and then discharged from his job, will ask the
Constitutional Court to rule that he get his job back in a hearing
on Tuesday. After being charged and convicted of the murders of
three policemen and an Askari in 1996, Wybrand Du Toit had to
leave his job at the police, in terms of the Police Act. He
applied for and was given amnesty in 2005 for the murders and then
went about trying to return to work. -
IOL website
Amnesty does not guarantee employment - 24 February
Amnesty laws could wipe a person's record clean of an
apartheid-era crime, but it could not bring a job back, the
Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. Advocate Tim Bruinders said
this while defending the police and the safety and security
ministry's decision not to rehire a policeman convicted of, and
then granted amnesty for, the Motherwell bombing. -
IOL website
Child sentencing laws challenged - 3 March
The Constitutional Court will hear a challenge to a law that
applies minimum sentences to 16- and 17-year-old offenders, when
it sits on Thursday. On December 31, 2007, the Criminal Law
(Sentencing) Amendment Act 38 of 2007 came into operation. It
abolished and replaced laws that regulated sentencing of offenders
aged 16 and 17 at the time of the offence. -
IOL website
'Children should be tried like adults' - 6 March
If children are capable of committing crimes like murder, rape and
robbery, they should be tried like adults. This seemed to be the
contention of the minister of justice when Parliament passed an
amendment to the Criminal
Law Amendment Act. The Constitutional Court on Thursday
heard arguments from both sides of the divide over the
constitutionality of the amendment, which came into effect at the
end of last year. - IOL
website
Judgment in immigration case reserved - 3 March
Judgment was reserved on Tuesday after the Constitutional Court
heard argument on a family of Kenyan origin's challenge to the
loss of their permanent citizenship. The court was hearing the
case of Wycliffe Simiyu Koyabe and his family asking for leave to
appeal a Pretoria High Court decision. -
IOL website
Zuma
Case
NPA
allows ANC to take up Zuma fight - 4 March
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said yesterday it would
not oppose the African National Congress's (ANC's) application, as
a friend of the court, to join the appeal by its president, Jacob
Zuma, to the Constitutional Court. The appeal concerns the recent
judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal, which held that there was
no obligation on the NPA to invite Zuma to make representations
before it decided to prosecute him. The effect of this judgment
was to reinstate corruption charges against Zuma. -
allAfrica website
Zuma case : Concourt will consider latest appeal - 13 March
The Constitutional Court has agreed to consider Jacob Zuma’s
appeal against the January ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA)
in favour of the National Prosecuting Authority, which effectively
re-opened the prosecution against him. -
Witness website
How the
drama has unfolded - 18 March
March 13, 2009 : The Constitutional Court grants Zuma the right to
appeal against the Supreme Court ruling that his fraud and
corruption prosecution should stand. The appeal was to be heard on
May 12. - The Star website
ANC fuming about NPA, Zuma rumours - 19 March
Suggestions that the National Prosecuting Authority is poised to
withdraw charges against Jacob Zuma have angered the ANC. The
reason for this, ANC national executive committee (NEC) member
Lindiwe Sisulu told The Star, was because they undermined efforts
by the party to deal with his corruption charges in a defendable
and transparent manner, as well as dispel fears that it would be
settled behind closed doors. The ANC has been admitted as a friend
of the court in Zuma's Constitutional Court application to have
his prosecution set aside. - IOL
website
ANC : Zuma trial not in SA's interest - 19 March
Details of the ANC's representations to the National Prosecuting
Authority regarding party leader Jacob Zuma prosecution have
emerged for the first time The ANC's Lindiwe Sisulu told the Cape
Argus last night that the party made its representations to the
NPA on February 4, arguing that Zuma's prosecution should be
dropped because it was not in the best interests of the country. -
IOL website
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Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
-
http://www.supremecourtofappeal.gov.za/index.html
; wwwserver.law.wits.ac.za/sca/index.php ;
http://www.uovs.ac.za/apps/law/appeal/
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/
13 March
2009
358/08 [2009] ZASCA 8
Eskom Holdings Limited and Another v New Reclamation Group
(Pty) Ltd
Promotion of
Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000
: review of award of tender by organ of State
; principles applicable and appropriate remedy, discussed
13 March 2009
644/07 [2009] ZASCA 7
KPMG Chartered Accountants (SA) v Securefin Limited and Another
Contract – interpretation – evidence – admissibility of evidence,
expert or otherwise, to interpret
11 March 2009
118/08 [2009] ZASCA 6
mCubed International (Pty) Ltd and and Another v Singer NO and
Others
Claim
for damages arising from misrepresentations made in context of an
offshore investment contract – held that on application of
'but-for' test factual causation not established – and that, in
any event, loss too remote because occasioned by strengthening of
Rand against the US Dollar rather than by misrepresentations
10 March 2009
153/2008 [2009] ZASCA 5
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (formerly
known as Johannesburg Transitional Metropolitan Council) v Engen
Petroleum Limited and Another
The
elevation of four lanes of a road above an intersection amounts to
a permanent diversion for the purpose of s 67 of the
Local Government Ordinance
17 of 1939 (T)
3 March
2009
543/2007 [2009] ZASCA 4
True Motives 84 (Pty) Ltd v Madhi and Others
Local authority – National
Building Regulations and
Building Standards Act 103
of 1977 ('NBR Act'),
s 7(1) – approval or refusal of approval of building plans – duty
of decision-maker – whether erection of building will derogate
from value of adjoining property – when satisfaction of local
authority susceptible to interference by court
26 February 2009
2/08 [2009] ZASCA 3
J R 209 Investments v Pine Villa Estates (617/07)
; Pine Villa Estates v J R 209 Investments
Validity of a deed of sale of land – whether the description of
property alienated was sufficiently clear in terms of s 2(1) of
the Alienation of Land Act
68 of 1981 – interdict preventing the establishment of a
township development set aside – application for leave to amend
pleadings dismissed
Not yet online
20 February
092/08 [2009] ZASCA 2
RMR Commodity Enterprise CC trading as
Krass Blankets v Chairman of the Bid Adjudication committee and
Others
Jo'burg
to challenge Phiri water ruling - 23 February
The Supreme Court of Appeal will today begin a hearing on the
constitutionality of the installation and use of prepaid water
meters in Phiri, Soweto. At issue is the constitutional right of
access to sufficient water. At stake for the City of Johannesburg
is "the foundation of its water policy", which has cost the city
billions to implement, and is aimed at ensuring everyone has
access to some form of water supply. At stake for the residents of
Phiri is suffering from having water for only a limited time in a
month. - allAfrica website
Media release from
Webber Wentzel
5 March 2009
SCA dismisses
petitions : long-term
fishing rights in hake sector finally secure
The Supreme
Court of Appeal today dismissed petitions to be granted leave to
appeal by three fishing companies which had challenged the
validity of the process of allocation of long-term hake fishing
rights by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and others.
The petitions
of Foodcorp (Pty) Ltd, Laingville Fisheries (Pty) Ltd and Hoxies
(Pty) Ltd were dismissed with costs. In May 2008, the Cape High
Court dismissed their challenges to the allocation of these
rights and then refused to grant them leave to appeal. They then
petitioned the Supreme Court to grant them leave to appeal.
Mike Evans,
Arthur James and Andre Bowley of Webber Wentzel acted for some
of the larger fishing companies such as I&J, Sea Harvest and the
Oceana Group as well as a number of smaller BEE fishing
companies.
They agree that
the decision means that long-term fishing rights allocations in
the hake deep sea trawling sector are now secure for the next 12
years. It introduces welcome security into the commercial
fishing industry.
The rights were
allocated by the Minister of Environmental Affairs three years
ago for a period of 15 years.
Issued by :FD Beachhead Media
On behalf of
:
Webber Wentzel
For further
information please contact :
Mike Evans
Partner, Webber Wentzel
Telephone : 021-
431 7000 / 082-462 2221
Arthur James
Partner, Webber Wentzel
Telephone : 021-431
7000
Mandy de Haan
Corporate Affairs at Webber Wentzel
Telephone : 011-530 5470
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Commercial Crimes Courts
Bellville
Don't bet on this horse - 5 March
A man with an "impressive criminal record" was on Thursday fined
R30 000 or 12 months in jail for placing newspaper advertisements
that violated a regulation pertaining to the Western Cape Gambling
and Racing Board. Jacques Mangiagalli appeared in the Bellville
Specialised Commercial Crime's Court, before magistrate Amrith
Chabilall, who suspended the sentence for five years as a
deterrent measure to stop Mangiagalli from repeating the offence.
- IOL website
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Cape
Provincial Division
-
http://law.sun.ac.za/cgi-bin/list.php
; Court rolls at
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=134
3 March
2009
9787/2008 [2009] ZAWCHC 21
Pasco Packaging CC v Wood Fibre Products CC trading
as Muller Productions Machines
27 February
2009
AC
38/2006 [2009] ZAWCHC 14
Classic Sailing Adventures (Pty) Ltd v Representative of
Lloyd's and Others
27 February
2009
SS
67 / 2005) [2009] ZAWCHC 13
National Director of Public Prosecution v De Vries and Others
25 February
2009
20766/2008 [2009] ZAWCHC 15
Loghdey v Advanced Parking Solutions CC and Others
20 February
2009
5418/05 ;
787/2006 [2009] ZAWCHC 12
Berg en Dal Estate (Incorporating Mountaindale Estate)
Homeowners Association v Van Huyssteen NO and Others
; Berg en Dal Estate (Incorporating Mountaindale Estate)
Homeowners Association v Brunt and Another
18 February
2009
A594/08 [2009] ZAWCHC 11
S v Povlsenand Another
Gang rivalry in Lotto winner murder case - 7 March
Jason Canterbury was just 19 when he won R6,7-million in the
national lottery and started living the good life, but he spent it
all in a few years. Now he is facing a charge of murder - his
alleged victim a man he is accused of using as a runner for drug
deals. This week Chandre Petersen, 21, testified in the murder
trial of Jason Canterbury, 25, Russel "Sniper" Johannes, 25 and
Remo Kuys, 28. The their trial started in the Cape High Court
earlier this week after numerous postponements in the Blue Down's
Magistrate's Court. - IOL
website
Mobster, his wife and the alleged molester - 6 March
Alleged paedophile and former racehorse owner Mark Lifman is
facing another court battle - this time with the widow of Yuri
"The Russian" Ulianitski. Irina Ulianitskaya has lodged a court
application against Lifman in which she claims that he and her
husband were involved in business ventures for close to 10 years.
- IOL website
Cigarette
racketeer's hot goods must go - 2 March
The Cape High Court has granted the National Director of Public
Prosecutions a R1 million confiscation order against the owner of
a cigarette wholesale business who was convicted of racketeering
and theft in connection with a spate of hijackings of British
American Tobacco cigarette trucks in 2003. Judge Lee Bozalek, in
granting the order on Friday, said Lenasia businessman Achmat
Mather might not have been directly involved in the crimes, but
his role as the middleman could not be underestimated. -
allAfrica website
Sex workers seek court order against police - 6 March
The Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) has asked
the Cape High Court to order the South African Police Service and
Cape Town Metro Police to stop its "continued unlawful, wrongful
and arbitrary arrests" of sex workers for ulterior purposes such
as harassment or sexual favours. -
IOL website
Cops 'using non-existent laws' on prostitutes - 5 March
Cape Town police appear to have been using bylaws that never made
it onto the statute books to arrest prostitutes in the city, the
Cape High Court heard on Thursday. -
IOL website
Don't blame us for sex arrests, say police - 5 March
The police could not be taken to task for the alleged failure of
prosecutors to accept prostitution cases, the Cape High Court was
told on Thursday. Sex workers' advocacy group SWEAT is asking for
an interdict to stop the South African and Cape Town city police
from harassing sex workers by repeatedly arresting them even
though, it says, most cases never go to court. -
IOL website
Madame Zingara in a bad way - 22 February
It may be the final curtain call for a legendary South African
travelling dinner theatre, famous for trapeze artists and
chocolate chilli steak.
Madame Zingara has been placed under provisional
liquidation by the Cape High Court, with the final order set to be
made this week.
The restaurant - which has pitched its vintage circus
tent (known as the Tent of Dreams) in Durban, Johannesburg and
Cape Town - retrenched more than 100 staff members recently. -
The Times website
Travelling theatre owner in dock - 26 February
The owner of Madame Zingara's Theatre of Dreams faces attempted
murder and culpable homicide charges in the Malmesbury Regional
Court in the Cape in connection with an accident in which a person
was killed and another injured three years ago. And on Friday the
Cape High Court will hear whether a provisional liquidation order
against the travelling supper theatre should be made final. -
IOL website
Madame Zingara is finally liquidated - 27 February
The global economic downturn and huge debt incurred from expanding
its operations to England has led to the final liquidation of Cape
Town's popular dinner theatre, Madame Zingara's Theatre of Dreams.
Madame Zingara's became unable to pay its debts, until it reached
a point were more than 100 employees had to be retrenched. Several
of the employees were also affected when its Tent of Dreams in
London did not turn enough profit over the festive season. -
IOL website
'He is the serial rapist' - 24 February
Suspected serial rapist Tsediso Letsoenya should be convicted on
80 counts because the evidence against him on these is
"overwhelming", the state has said in delivering its final
argument. State advocate Christnus van der Vijver told the Cape
High Court on Monday that although the evidence was largely
circumstantial, Letsoenya had been identified by a large number
of witnesses at identity parades and had been incriminated on
some counts by DNA evidence. -
IOL website
Navy seaman fails to put up final fight - 24 February
Former navy seaman Tsediso Letsoenya failed to put up a final
defence in the Cape High Court, despite several counts of rape
and indecent assault hanging over his head. This was after Judge
Abdullah Motala adjourned the matter for 10 minutes for the
accused to decide whether he would present closing arguments. -
IOL website
Convicted : on 70 charges - 9 March
Former naval seaman Tsediso Letsoenya has been convicted of 70
charges, including 28 of rape and another 28 of indecent
assault, all committed between 2001 and 2005. -
IOL website
Serial rapist could be declared dangerous - 13 March
Tsediso Letsoenya, the ex-naval seaman convicted of 28 rapes and
28 indecent assaults, is to be assessed by a female psychiatrist
as he requested. He believes he has a sexual addiction for which
he needs to be treated. Letsoenya has appointed Larissa Panieri-Peter,
a former Valkenberg forensic psychiatrist, to assess him along
with a second psychiatrist appointed by the court. -
IOL website
Fidentia Case
Brown prepared 'to pay R30m for his freedom' - 12 March
Former Fidentia boss Arthur Brown was prepared to pay
R30-million to buy his freedom. Brown proposed a plea bargain :
he was prepared to plead guilty to a charge of being an
accessory to fraud and pay a R30m fine, according to the papers.
At the time of the plea negotiations, Fidentia curators were
seeking R1,6-billion in Fidentia money. -
IOL website
Taliep Petersen Case
20 questions with Najwa - 17 February
In an exclusive interview with the Cape Argus from behind bars, Najwa Petersen, who betrayed no emotion during her trial, has told
how she often weeps over her situation - but says her focus in
jail is on the future of daughter Zaynab. The e-mailed questions
were submitted to her in the Breede River Women's Prison, where
she is serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of her husband,
Taliep Petersen. - Cape
Argus website
Najwa interview 'unethical' - 19 February
The department of correctional services says it intends to lay a
complaint against one of Najwa Petersen's lawyers after he
interviewed her in jail on behalf of a newspaper. -
IOL website
Najwa's lawyer defends 'legal visit' in prison - 20 February
A
lawyer acting for jailed Najwa Petersen has
denied that he acted unethically by relaying her responses to
questions from a newspaper. Shahied Schrueder was reacting to a
statement by the Department of Correctional Services on
Thursday
that it intended to lay a complaint against him. -
Mail & Guardian website
Najwa's lawyer under fire over media report - 21 February
The Department of Correctional Services says it is to lay a
complaint with the Cape Law Society against Najwa Petersen's
lawyer over an article in the Cape Argus this week. On
Monday, the newspaper published an article headlined "20 questions
with Najwa" on its front page, saying the questions and responses
were sent "via her attorney, Shahied Schrueder, who is assisting
her with decisions on the future of her daughter, Zaynab".
Petersen is in the Breede River women's prison near Worcester,
where she is serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of her
husband, music legend Taliep Petersen. -
IOL website
'Irregularities' in Najwa's trial - 27 February
Najwa Petersen, who is serving a 28-year jail sentence for
orchestrating the December 2006 murder of her husband, music icon
Taliep Petersen, claims that she did not have a fair trial. This
emerged in an application her lawyers filed at the Cape High Court
this week for leave to appeal Judge Siraj Desai's decision to
convict her of the murder and a charge of robbery with aggravating
circumstances. She has asked for leave to take the case to the
Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. -
IOL website
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Durban and Coast Local
Division -
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZHC/
; Court rolls
via
http://www.lawlibrary.co.za/notice/highcourts/index.htm
and
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=197
23 February
2009
7312/2005 [2009] ZAKZHC 9
Omar and Others v Xanadu Properties 16 CC and Others
20 February
2009
9931/2008 [2009] ZAKZHC 5
Essa NO and Another v Body Corporate of Kingsway House and
Another ; Body Corporate of
Kingsway House and Another and Essa NO and Another
19 February 2009
7219/2008 [2009] ZAKZHC 4
Reebib Rentals (Pty) Limited v Lets Trade 1163 CC
Lotter case to go Durban High Court - 6 March
IOL website
State to appeal Naidoo bail application
- 12 March
Double murder accused Mathew Naidoo may not be out on bail for
much longer, if an appeal in the Durban High Court is successful.
The state has applied for leave to appeal the granting of his bail
saying they believe the magistrate misdirected himself by giving
bail. - IOL website
Housing
Department shackdweller comments evoke strong response - 13
March
Comments made by South Africa's Department of Housing after a
Durban High Court Judge dismissed an application by the Abahlali
baseMjondolo (shack dwellers) Movement SA to declare the
KwaZulu-Natal Elimination
and Prevention of Re-emergence of Slums Act 2007
unconstitutional have met with opposition from the church,
academia and civil society organisations. -
allAfrica website
See also :
27 January
2009
1874/08
Abahlali Basemjondolo Movement SA
v Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and Others
Jessica
Foord Case
Foord rape trial delayed - 3 March
Relatives and supporters of gang-rape survivor Jessica Foord
bristled with anger on Monday when the trial of four of the young
men accused of the crime failed to get under way. A large crowd
gathered at the Durban High Court on Monday morning to give Foord
and her father who was forced to witness the rape, moral support.
When the case was called before Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner on
Monday, state advocate Cheryl Naidu said the four defence
advocates needed to "confirm their instructions" from their
clients, and the trial would be rolled over for a day. -
IOL website
Father tells of rape ordeal - 4 March
A Hillcrest, Durban, father sobbed in court yesterday, describing
how he watched his daughter being raped by armed robbers. Mbotho
Msomi, 26, Lindani Maphumulo, 19, Siyabonga Ntinga, 18, and
Nthutuko Chili, 19, are on trial for robbery with aggravating
circumstances and rape. - The
Times website
Rapist claims he was forced - 5 March
One of Jessica Foord's convicted rapists
yesterday claimed that he was held at knife-point and forced to
rape her by one of the four men standing trial in the Durban High
Court.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because he is a
minor, turned state witness after confessing to robbing Foord and
her father, Timothy, before raping the then 21-year-old student.
The teenager is serving a 17-year prison sentence for his role in
the attack on Foord and her father. -
The Times website
Foord identified rape suspects at parade - 9 March
All four men accused of robbing a Waterfall father and his
daughter, and gang-raping the daughter near a dam in Hillcrest
last year, were pointed out by the two at an identity parade soon
after the incident. This was according to Brighton Beach police
Inspector Charles Starbuck, testifying in the men's robbery and
rape trial in the Durban High Court on Friday. -
IOL website
Judge hails good evidence from rape victim - 13 March
The Durban High Court on Friday found three men guilty of raping
Jessica Foord. Ntuthuko Chili, 18, Mbotho Msomi, 26, and Lindani
Maphumulo, 19, were convicted of rape while the third accused,
Siyabonga Ntinga, 18, was acquitted of rape. All four accused
however, were found guilty of robbery with aggravating
circumstances. The fifth member of the group, a 17-year-old who
pleaded guilty to the crime last year, was sentenced to 17 years
in jail, part of which would be spent at a juvenile facility. -
IOL website
Foord rapists receive life sentences - 16 March
Rape
victim Jessica Foord’s family and friends today applauded when her
three rapists were sentenced to life imprisonment this morning.
Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner compared Ntuthuko Chili, 18, Mbotho
Msomi, 26, and Lindani Maphumulo, 19, to a pack of wild animals.
The three men and a fourth accused, Siyabonga Ntinga, who was
acquitted of the rape charge, were also sentenced to 15 years
imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances. She
denied the application for leave to appeal the sentencing. -
The
Times website
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Eastern
Cape Division
-
http://wwwserver.law.wits.ac.za/echc/index.php
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAECHC/
; Court rolls
(Grahamstown) at
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=283
27 February
2009
1424/2007 [2009] ZAECHC 23
Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope v Nomoyi
27 February 2009
2090/2007 [2009] ZAECHC 22
Bovungana v Road Accident Fund
26 February
2009
2719/2008 [2009] ZAECHC 20
JSH Engineering Solutions CC v Leon Oosthuizen trading
as One Way Diesel Stop
26 February
2009
2044/08 [2009] ZAECHC 19
Wine and Another v Zondani
26 February 2009
1778/2008 [2009] ZAECHC 18
Kemp v Kohlile
26 February 2009
2575/2008 [2009] ZAECHC 17
Port Elizabeth Inner City Housing (Pty) Ltd v Nieman
17 February 2009
90/2009 [2009] ZAECHC 16
Mtongana and Another v Premier of the Eastern Cape and Others
6 February 2009
214460 [2009] ZAECHC 12
S v Mapukata
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Free
State
Provincial Division
-
www.uovs.ac.za/fac/law/highcourt/
;
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAFSHC/
27 February
2009
508/2009 [2009] ZAFSHC 21
Lohan Civil-Tebogo Joint Venture and Others v Mangaung
Plaaslike Munisipaliteit and Others
26 February
2009
3028/06 [2009] ZAFSHC 20
Minister of Land Affairs v Mphuti and Another
26 February
2009
3484/2003 [2009] ZAFSHC 19
Badenhorst v Maluti-A-Phofung Munisipaliteit
26 February
2009
7388/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 18
Letsema Plaaslike Munisipaliteit v Masekoane and Anothers
19 February 2009
945/2007 [2009] ZAFSHC 17
Van Dyk (born) Gerber v Van Dyk
12 February
2009
A73/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 16
S v Bezuidenhout
12 February
2009
4525/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 15
Jacobs v Maritz and Others ; Maritz and Others v Jacobs
12 February
2009
4752/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 14
Firstrand Bank Beperk v Smith
12 February
2009
54/2009 [2009] ZAFSHC 13
S v Ramaketekete
12 February
2009
575/08 ;
721/08 ;
761/08 [2009] ZAFSHC 12
S v Van Wyk and Others
12 February
2009
693/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 11
Sapphire Dawn Trading 42 BK v De Klerk and Others
12 February
2009
314/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 10
S v Pholeli
5 February
2009
6723/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 9
Vorster v Van Niekerk and Others
29 January
2009
758/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 8
S v Pheko
29 January
2009
763/2008 [2009] ZAFSHC 7
S v Machitje
29 January
2009
1246/06 [2009] ZAFSHC 6
J J Lazenby trading as Lazenby Transport v Saayman NO
29 January
2009
5267/2006 [2009] ZAFSHC 5
Taljaard v Mulder and Another
26 January
2009
A385/2007 [2009] ZAFSHC 4
Coetzee and Others v Venter NO and Another
26 January
2009
4056/2006 [2009] ZAFSHC 3
Croucamp v Schoeman Maree Inc
16 January
2009
6669/08 [2009] ZAFSHC 2
Wilson v Wilson
8 January
2009
809/08 [2009] ZAFSHC 1
S v Koloza and Another
Lynne Hume Case
State rests its case against Kunene - 3 March
The State closed its case on Tuesday in the Bloemfontein High
Court murder trial of IT consultant Muziwendoda Kunene. -
IOL website
Hume
accused makes fresh claims in court - 9 March
The self-confessed, one-time undercover intelligence agent and
murder accused Muziwendoda Kunene, who has claimed that his
alleged victim was also involved in underground activities, has
made more revelations in court. -
IOL website
Court told of complex plot against Kunene - 10 March
There was a plot to frame IT consultant Muziwendoda Kunene for
rape or for killing a business colleague - and it had to happen
before the ANC conference in Polokwane. And if that plan failed,
he would be killed, Kunene claimed in the Bloemfontein High Court
yesterday, where he denied kidnapping and murdering Ballito estate
agent, Lynne Hume. - IOL
website
Kunene trial 'becoming intolerable' - 10 March
An affidavit by a dead policeman implicating the Presidency, the
National Intelligence Agency and the National Police
Commissioner's Office in an alleged conspiracy was handed in at
the Bloemfontein High Court on Tuesday. The affidavit of
Superintendent Zethembe Chonco of the Kranskop police station in
Kwazulu-Natal was handed in by the defence for controversial IT
consultant Mzwendoda Kunene at his murder trial. Judge M
H Rampai provisionally accepted the document as hearsay
evidence. Kunene, who read parts of the document into the record,
was led by Nkhahle through the document after Judge Rampai warned
that they were at one stage dealing with hearsay evidence based on
more hearsay evidence. "This is becoming intolerable for the
court," Rampai said after Kunene read aspects of the document
based on what others such as NIA agents and police had told Chonco.
- IOL website
Reports of Zuma plot emerge in Kunene trial - 11 March
A former police killer underwent plastic surgery from a mysterious
Dr Woo so that he could pass as murder accused Muziwendoda Kunene
- all as part of a plot to discredit Jacob Zuma. The Presidency,
the National Intelligence Agency and SAPS head office were all
interested in ensuring that Kunene did not become a threat to
national security, it was alleged in the murder trial of Ballito
estate agent Lynne Hume in Bloemfontein on Tuesday. -
The Star website
Kunene affidavit a fake : state - 12 March
The State on Thursday alleged that murder accused, controversial
IT consultant Muzi Kunene, had composed a policeman's affidavit
implicating the Presidency in a "conspiracy". State advocate
Amanda Bester, during cross-examination at the Bloemfontein High
Court, told Kunene it was obvious that Kunene's defence lawyer,
Jan Nkhahle, had not known of the affidavit from the beginning.
"The author is you," Bester said. -
IOL website
Kunene's spy claims 'ridiculous' - 16 March
The prosecutor in the Lynne Hume murder trial is preparing this
week to shoot down claims by accused Muziwendoda Kunene that a
senior policeman was behind the kidnapping and killing of the
Ballito estate agent. - IOL
website
See also :
Magistrates Courts. Pretoria
below
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Natal
Provincial Division
-
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAKZHC/
; Court rolls
via
http://www.lawlibrary.co.za/notice/highcourts/index.htm
and
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=190
18 March
2009
13859/08 and 55 related cases
Sibiya v Director General : Home Affairs, Minister of Home
Affairs and 55 related cases
24 February
2009
8049/06 [2009] ZAKZHC 10
Trustees for the Time Being of the the Norwegian Settlers
Church v Minister of Public Works
23 February
2009
7330/2007 [2009] ZAKZHC 8
KwaZulu-Natal Law Society v Moodley
23 February 2009
AR
254/2008 [2009] ZAKZHC 7
National Horse Racing Authority of Southern Africa v Naidoo and
Another
23 February 2009
AR
254/08 [2009] ZAKZHC 6
National Horse Racing Authority of Southern Africa v Naidoo and
Another
Court sequel in battle to close school - 8 March
The battle to close the Juma Musjid School in Durban's city centre
continues. Pietermaritzburg High Court papers indicate interest in
the premises from a number of businesses and a private school, the
Al Azaar. The parents of pupils and prospective pupils applied for
a court order to stop the closure of the school in 2008. The
school property was bestowed by government grant to the Juma
Musjid Trust, which has run a government school there since 1957.
The trustees have applied to the court to close the school because
it is no longer feasible to operate. -
IOL website
Zuma Case
Zuma says he won't have court case
dropped if he becomes president - 3 March
ANC president Jacob Zuma has quashed speculation on whether he
will push his party to agree to legislate against his having to
face court charges. He told Al Jazeera TV station in an interview
he would not try to grant himself immunity from corruption charges
if he became president of the country after next month's
general election and would respect any court ruling. -
Herald Online website
Key Zuma witness will 'never testify' - 17 March
The
author of the infamous encrypted fax that implicated Jacob Zuma in
corruption says he will never testify in the ANC president's
trial. And Alain Thetard has hinted that he could have been a
valuable defence witness for Zuma's former financial adviser,
convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, had he not been scared off by
the state's plans to arrest him. Thint has applied for the
prosecution against it to be permanently stayed. -
IOL website
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North-West Division
-
http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZANWHC/2008/
4 February
2009
A
597/08B [2009] ZANWHC 2
S v Mkhwayimba
15 January 2009
2679/2008 [2009] ZANWHC 1
Ukweza Holdings (Pty) Ltd v MEC for Health
: North-west Province
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Transvaal
Provincial Division (now
North Gauteng High Court)
-
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPHC/
; Court rolls
at
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=134
10 March
2009
A742/2006 [2009] ZAGPPHC 3
S v Ntopane and Another
6 March 2009
5896/2007 ;
10235/2008 [2009] ZAGPPHC 2
Agri South Africa v Minister of Minerals and Energy
; Van Rooyen v Minister of Minerals and Energy
Agri SA applauds mineral rights verdict - 9 March 2009
Agri SA has welcomed a Pretoria High Court ruling that the Mineral
and Petroleum Resources Development Act is effectively
expropriating unused, old order mineral rights. It would compel
the state to pay compensation or reinstate ownership of
expropriated mineral rights, said Agri SA chief executive Hans van
der Merwe on Monday. - Mail &
Guardian website
3 March 2009
56240/08 [2009] ZAGPPHC 1
Bouwer and Others, Ex parte applications
27
February 2009
A1193/06 [2009] ZAGPHC 39
Total South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Gerhard Oosthuizen trading
as Happy Homes Filling Station
27
February 2009
33297/1999 [2009] ZAGPHC 38
National Potato Co-Operative v Price Waterhouse Coopers Inc and
Others
25 February 2009
10864/02 [2009] ZAGPHC 37
Mamede and Others v Strategic Executive Department of Housing,
City Planning, Land and Environmental Planning of the City of
Tshwane and Others
20 February 2009
33297/1999 [2009] ZAGPHC 33
Nasionale Aartappel Kooperasie Beperk v Price Waterhouse
Coopers Incorporated en Andere
Fight to pry tycoon's estate from girlfriend - 23 February
A
battle over the will of an extremely wealthy 74-year-old Dutch man
is looming in the Pretoria High Court. His wife, to whom he was
married for 46 years and his three children, claim that he was not
mentally sound when he drew up a will three months before his
death, giving all his wealth to his girlfriend. Anne-Marie van
Lookeren Visser and her three children Frans, Fleur and Karel van
Lookeren, who apart from Karel, all live in Holland, asked the
Pretoria High Court to declare the elderly Oscar van Lookeren's
will invalid. He declared Maria Catharina van der Walt, 59, the
only beneficiary of his estate. It is stated that his wife and
children had "already received what was due to them during the
course of their lives" and were not entitled to anything more. -
IOL website
Court orders outlet to stop doing business - 24 February
A Pretoria High Court judge on Monday ordered the owners of a
wholesaler trading as Kwik Kat Cash and Carry on the corner of
Potgieter and Bloed streets to immediately cease doing business.
Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann's order included that neither
businessman Mohamed Javed Gani or the business Kwik Property
Holdings and Kwik Kat Cash and Carry or any of their agents may
trade from this business premises, nor occupy the premises. It
emerged that the respondents had built the Cash and Carry on the
council's property, without its prior approval and then "demanded"
the necessary approval thereafter. -
IOL website
Keyphrase
:
Tshwane Metro Council
Discharge application on the cards for Motata - 24 February
An application to discharge Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata
on charges of drinking and driving will be brought in the
Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on March 9. The state has closed its
case against Motata, who crashed his Jaguar into the perimeter wall
of a house in Hurlingham in January 2007, allegedly while drunk.
During Motata's brief appearance on Tuesday, Magistrate Desmond Nair
told him he had held discussions with the defence and state counsel
in his chambers. - IOL website
Motata application delayed - 10 March
The application by Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata for the
case against him to be thrown out has been delayed. The application
had been expected to go ahead on Monday. The matter has been under
way for 18 months, and the state closed its case last month. Defence
counsel Danie Dorfling then informed the court that his client
intended bringing a Section 174 application under the
Criminal Procedure Act
for the case to be discharged. Dorfling declined to give details,
citing attorney-client privilege and arguing that doing so would
"traverse the terrain of private communications". (Prosecutor Zaais)
van Zyl said he was aware of the problematic issue and therefore
would not oppose the request for a postponement. "I am not in a
position to disclose any more to the court - only that it is about
instructions," Van Zyl said. - IOL
website
Motata case experiences yet another hitch - 17 March
The trial of North Gauteng High Court Judge Nkola Motata, which has
lasted for almost two years, has stalled again because his lawyers
have withdrawn from the case. The application was scheduled to go
ahead for the third time yesterday when it was again postponed -
this time to enable Judge Motata's counsel Danie Dorfling and his
junior Marinus van Jaarsveld to withdraw from the matter and new
attorney Simeon Ngomane to be appointed as the new defence counsel.
- IOL website
Judge Motata called to explain court delay - 16 March
Drunken driving accused Judge Nkola Motata was called upon to
explain in court on Monday why his second set of lawyers had decided
to withdraw from the case. "I'm not in a position to disclose that.
That remains privileged," the Pretoria High Court judge told a
visibly annoyed magistrate Desmond Nair. Nair, who was forced to
postpone for a second time an application for discharge, asked
Motata directly : "What has led to this
situation?" - Mail & Guardian
website
Credit Act causing court problems - 25 February
The National Credit Regulator (NCR) has asked the Pretoria High
Court to provide clarity on the interpretation of the debt review
provisions in the National
Credit Act, it said on Wednesday. This, after finding that
most debt restructuring proceedings in magistrate’s courts were
not being finalised because of differing views on the proper
interpretation of these provisions. -
Business Report website
'I face a real risk of persecution' - 25 February
The Minister of Home Affairs has been ordered by the Pretoria High
Court to immediately release an asylum seeker from of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo who is being held at the Lindela
Holding Facility in Krugersdorp. Max Boziss, 28, desperately tried
to renew his asylum seeker temporary permit, but long queues at
the department prevented him from doing so in time. It was stated
in court papers that Boziss visited the Home Affairs offices in
Johannesburg on eight occasions in two weeks. He was each time
unable even to gain access to the building due to the long queues.
- IOL website
Court order issued after two-year battle - 25 February
The Pretoria High Court has given home affairs 10 days to issue a
birth certificate for a child to a mother who has been waiting for
it for more than two-and-a-half years. This is the second week in
succession that citizens have turned to the court in an attempt to
obtain birth certificates or identity documents for which
they have been waiting for years. In the first case, the
department was also given 10 days to comply with the court order.
- IOL website
Museum director wages war on ministers - 4 March
The director of the SA National Museum of Military History on
Wednesday described his shock and anger after being arrested for
alleged illegal arms possession. The alleged unlawful arrest and
detention of the museum's director, John Keene, and two of its
curators, Richard Henry and Susanne Blendulf, in 2005 has resulted
in the three claiming almost R1.9 million damages from the
ministers of Safety and Security and Defence. Keene lost the sight
in one of his eyes and Blendulf suffered from post traumatic
stress disorder allegedly as a result of the arrests. -
IOL website
War museum knew arms were stolen : state - 5 March
A museum director told the Pretoria High Court on Thursday that he
was never asked for any documentation, and without any warning of
his rights, was arrested and cuffed to his colleague. SA National
Military History Museum director John Keene spent a second day in
the witness box in court. He and two of the museum's curators,
Richard Henry and Susanne Blendulf, are suing the ministers of
Safety and Security and Defence for almost R1.9 million in
damages. - IOL website
Govt surrenders in war museum arrest case - 11 March
John Keene, Richard Henry and Susanne Blendulf v The Minister of
Safety and Security and The Minister of Defence
: Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Case No: 37587/2005
politicsweb website
Ministers admit liability - 12 March
The ministers of safety and security and of defence have conceded
liability in the wrongful arrest and detention of three South
African National Museum of Military History employees. -
Business Day website
No apologies yet for wrongful museum arrests - 12 March
No immediate apologies were forthcoming on Thursday from the
ministers of Safety and Security and of Defence for the wrongful
arrests of senior museum officials in 2005.
A Gauteng High Court judge earlier this week criticised the
ministers after finding that the police wrongfully arrested three
staff of the museum. John Keene, Richard Henry and Susanne
Blendulf were arrested in January 2005 for allegedly possessing
stolen armoured vehicles, which turned out to have been legally
acquired for the museum. - IOL
website
'Advocate Barbie'
Case
Barbie wants discharge - 21 February
Although Visser, also known as Advocate Barbie, this week admitted
the bulk of the evidence against her, she would ask for a
discharge when the state closed its case. "I will bring an
application for the discharge of my client," advocate Johann
Engelbrecht SC told Pretoria High Court Acting Judge Chris Eksteen.
- IOL website
Advocate Barbie reveals how she became a 'cheap woman' - 26
February
Cezanne Visser, better known as Advocate Barbie, on Thursday told
how she had allowed herself to be transformed from a prudish
virgin into a "cheap woman" with enormous fake breasts. -
Mail & Guardian website
He was going to kill his wife : Visser - 9 March
Dirk
Prinsloo threatened to kill former advocate Cezanne Visser and her
mother, the Pretoria High Court heard on Monday. He also planned
to murder his former wife, Visser testified. On Monday, she
testified that Prinsloo rented a car in January 2005, bought a
disguise and a body bag and disappeared for about five days,
telling her he knew where his former wife lived and was going to
murder her. -
IOL website
Lover threatened to kill me, says Visser - 10 March
Dirk Prinsloo did not only threaten to kill his former wife, he
also threatened to kill his former lover, Cezanne Visser, and her
mother, if Visser did not stand by him during their sex trial. -
IOL website
Sex was my punishment : Visser - 10 March
Cezanne Visser, also known as Advocate Barbie, was subjected to
brutal sex when her former lover Dirk Prinsloo sought to punish
her, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday. This was the
evidence of the 31-year-old Visser in defence of the 14 sex
charges against her. "Sex in general was brutal with him, but when
he punished me, it was even worse. Some times I had to drive
through the streets to pick up prostitutes for him". -
IOL website
Dirk was my god : Visser - 11 March
Cezanne Visser, also known as Advocate Barbie, admitted that she
probably would have committed a murder at the time she was under
the spell of her then advocate lover, Dirk Prinsloo. Visser, under
cross-examination in the Pretoria High Court, said at the time she
regarded Prinsloo as her god and she was prepared to do anything
for him. - IOL
website
It's all Dirk's fault, Barbie tells court - 17 March
Prosecutor Andre Fourie said every time Visser was confronted
about alleged sexual abuses committed against several women and
children, she blamed it on her former lover, Dirk Prinsloo. Fourie
asked the 31-year-old whether she too saw herself as a victim and
whether she was of the opinion that she could not be blamed for
what happened to the victims in this case. -
IOL website
Derby-Lewis Parole
Application
Argument begins in Derby-Lewis case - 10 March
Chris Hani's killer, Clive Derby-Lewis, is not entitled to parole
although he is eligible for it, the Pretoria High Court heard on
Tuesday. Technical legal arguments began in the court with
73-year-old Derby-Lewis listening attentively and taking notes.
His legal team argued that Derby-Lewis was eligible for parole as
he was over 65 and had served 15 years of his life sentence. -
IOL website
Interference in Hani killer case : lawyer
- 10 March
Chris Hani's killer, Clive Derby-Lewis, was to have his day in
court at last on Tuesday, appearing before a full bench of North
Gauteng High Court judges. In December, Judge President Bernard
Ngoepe postponed the matter again after a request for a full Bench
by the State. Judge Ngoepe allowed the request, saying there was a
large public interest and there had been legislative changes. -
IOL website
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Witwatersrand Local
Division -
(now South Gauteng High
Court)
http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPHC/
; Court rolls
at
http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=173
25 February 2009
08/39919 [2009] ZAGPHC 36
Thebe Ya Bophelo Healthcare Administrators (Proprietary)
Limited and Others v National Bargaining Council for the Road
Freight Industry and Another
20 February 2009
1099/2007 [2009] ZAGPHC 34
Sheriff for Krugersdorp v United Aviation Services and Another
No end in sight as Fassie dispute escalates - 21 February
The hostility over Brenda Fassie's royalties has escalated into a
war out of court - barely a week after the parties agreed on
arbitration. First to fire the salvo at the late pop idol's former
agent, the Southern African Music Rights (Samro), was David
Feldman, the executor appointed to recoup her income, which is
said to run into the tens of millions. The Johannesburg High Court
this week granted an application by Samro and Feldman to resolve
their dispute through arbitration. Feldman initially took Samro to
court in October 2006. - IOL
website
Furious Teazers boss gets down to business - 13 March
A renegade stripper on a seduction spree, a Ducati motorcycle
seized by crack detective Piet Byleveld and a spy game between two
strip-club kings on Facebook. The war between Teazers boss Lolly
Jackson and a former friend and business partner Mark Andrews
continued in court on Thursday. -
IOL website
Lawyer hopes SABC will comply - 5 March
Lawyer Barry Aaron is withdrawing his application to liquidate the
SABC on an understanding that he will be paid money owed, he said
on Thursday. "I am removing it because I have had a tender of
payments which I'm hoping will be complied with," he said. He was
due to apply for the liquidation of the public broadcaster at 2pm
in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday. He is seeking the
balance of a R450 000 bill he submitted for legal fees, after
receiving only R75 000. - IOL
website
Ananias Mathe Case
SA citizens have little faith in judiciary - 10 March
A Pretoria lawyer linked rape and robbery accused Annanias Mathe
to the theft of his "tithe and offerings" money after shoe prints
he collected at his house after a housebreaking and theft incident
matched Mathe's running shoes. On Tuesday, advocate John Bauer, of
the Pretoria Bar, came to the Johannesburg High Court to
emphatically state that, based on the footprint, Mathe was the man
who broke into his house. - IOL
website
How did Mathe get cash from the outside? - 12 March
The Star has learnt that rape and robbery accused Annanias Mathe
smuggled R300 into the Johannesburg High Court on the day his
police escorts were reduced from 12 to 2. On Monday police found
money during a routine body search minutes before he was taken
back to C-Max prison. - IOL
website
Lucky Dube Case
Dube murder trial judge blasts advocate - 24 March
Defence advocate in the Lucky Dube murder trail, Vuyo Jack, was on
Tuesday warned against "irrelevant,
time-wasting questions" by presiding
Judge Seun Moshidi. - Mail &
Guardian website
Dube case : judge calling the shots - 17 March
The judge in the Lucky Dube murder trial has indicated that the
trial won't be over until he says so. Just as both parties had
wrapped up their cases and the State was about to start with the
closing arguments on Monday, South Gauteng High Court Judge Seun
Moshidi made it clear that he was not happy to let the case be
closed before the testimony of Sfiso Mhlanga's lover, Nomfundo
Skhosana. - IOL website
Selebi Case
Selebi : judge raises fairness as the issue - 20 February
The Johannesburg High Court has ordered the Scorpions to hand over
almost all outstanding documents National Police Commissioner
Jackie Selebi says he needs to prepare for his trial. "Clearly, if
the defendant's team is not furnished with the statements and/or
the right to consult with witnesses .
. . there is a real likelihood, a
real possibility that the accused will not enjoy a fair trial,"
said Judge Nico Coetzee on Friday. -
IOL website
Selebi court application throws up dramatic new details - 20
February
Jackie Selebi's battle to secure access to prosecution information
ahead of his trial has thrown up dramatic new details of how the
investigation into the police commissioner began. -
Mail & Guardian website
Roger Kebble denies spying rumours - 23 February
Brett Kebble's father has vehemently denied claims - in the letter
that sparked the Scorpions' investigation of police boss Jackie
Selebi - that he and his slain son spied on each other. The
letter, which National Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions
Charin de Beer used to obtain cellphone records for Selebi and for
Brett Kebble murder accused Glenn Agliotti, alleges that Roger
Kebble also spied on his son Guy. -
IOL website
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Regional Courts
Cape Town
Mood swings
delay couple's fraud trial - 6 March
Fraud accused Mogamat Naziem Saban has handed blood tests and a
psychiatric report to the Cape Town Regional Court to support his
claim that he is receiving treatment for a medical condition. Saban,
50, who has bipolar disorder, is charged on 178 counts, including
fraud, failure to submit income tax returns and theft totalling R550
000. Last month he was ordered by the court to comply with his
psychiatrist's recommendation of regular blood tests, failing which
he would face prison. - allAfrica
website
Fidentia Case
Fidentia's Brown in bid to stop investigation - 2 March
A Cape High Court application is pending in which former chief
executive of the Fidentia group, J Arthur Brown, seeks an order
to stop his prosecution on embezzlement charges, or to at least
stop the investigation. This emerged in the Cape Town Regional
Court on Monday, when Brown appeared briefly before Magistrate
Wilma van der Merwe. Brown at this stage has three embezzlement
cases pending. - Business
Report website
Durban
Judge sets date for Prince Zulu trial - 25 February
The trial date for the culpable homicide case against Durban
businessman Prince Sifiso Zulu was set down for August in the
Durban Regional Court on Wednesday. Zulu faces two charges of
culpable homicide after an alleged hit-and-run accident in March
2008. - IOL website
Prince Zulu goes on the offensive - 26 February
Durban businessman Prince Sifiso Zulu, who is accused of killing
two people in a car crash last year, is proclaiming his
innocence, saying there is a political motive behind his
prosecution. He has accused the police of tarnishing his
reputation, and has labelled their investigation a "cheap
political point-scoring exercise". -
IOL website
Police appeal to victims of alleged fraudster - 23 February
Police are appealing to people who were scammed by alleged
fraudster, Busisiwe Zakwe, to come forward with information that
may help speed up the investigation. Zakwe owned a cash loan
service, which was converted to an investment company, BPJR
Financial Institution. It is alleged that Zakwe made
R12,6-million from the "investments", but did not give her
investors the money she had promised. Instead, she told
investors she had used their money to bring international
singer, Robert Kelly, to perform in concerts across South
Africa. Only then would she make good on payments. -
IOL website
SA court
wants answers from R Kelly - 20
March
A court in South Africa has sent a letter to R Kelly seeking
explanation of his involvement in an alleged investment scam,
reports South Africa's The Times. A Durban woman,
Busisiwe Priscilla Zakwe, has implicated the singer in an
alleged swindle that apparently conned more than 50 people. -
EURweb website
Pietermaritzburg
Neighbours recall daycare tragedy - 26 February
A man on Wednesday recalled how he had helped free a baby that
had been sandwiched between a car and a bed after the child's
daycare mother had engaged the wrong gear and rammed into her at
a Pietermaritzburg creche last year. Vishnu Devsaran was
testifying in the Pietermaritzburg District Court where his
neighbour, Roshini Hemraj, is on trial charged with the culpable
homicide of nine-month-old Saiyona Moonsamy on July 29 last
year. - IOL website
Blue light VIP cop in court - 6 March
Blue light VIP escort, Constable Hlanganani Nxumalo, must appear
in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court to face eight charges of
attempted murder and malicious injury to property. -
News24 website
Taxi man guilty in officer's death - 11 March
Taxi driver Nhlanhla Lucky Mbonambi admitted in the
Pietermaritzburg regional court yesterday that he caused the
death of Pietermaritzburg traffic officer Desmond Hanson when he
drove too fast and hit him, dragging the officer for a distance
before his taxi came to a halt in the city centre on June 12
last year. Mbonambi was convicted by regional magistrate Rose
Mogwera of culpable homicide and of committing seven traffic
violations. He pleaded guilty to culpable homicide, an
alternative charge to that of murder which he originally faced.
He will be sentenced on April 9. -
Witness website
Pretoria
Boy tells of beating with hosepipe - 9 March
A Pretoria father is accused of hanging his then-six-year-old
son between two poles and beating his bare back with a hosepipe
for coming home from school with a dirty uniform. The next day
the boy was allegedly tied like a sheep on a spit and hit on top
of the previous day's open wounds because other children had
splashed water on his white shirt. -
IOL website
Will councillors cough up R10m for McBride? - 7 March
All 100 Ekurhuleni councillors may have to pay back
R10,8-million out of their own pockets for approving the money
spent on axed metro police chief Robert McBride's legal fees.
The Independent Ratepayers' Association (Irasa) has served
summons on the councillors stating that their voting to pay
McBride's legal bills was a direct violation of the
Municipal Finance
Management Act. The municipality currently only allows
for a limit of R10 000 to be paid as legal fees per incident -
effectively meaning that the council overspent a thousand times
more than it was entitled. - IOL
website
McBride council braced for fight on fees - 14 March
The Ekurhuleni Municipality has urged the Independent Ratepayers
Association (Irasa) to "just go ahead" with its legal action
against the council for allegedly illegally approving money
which has been spent on axed police chief Robert McBride's legal
fees. Last week Irasa served summons on the 100 councillors,
stating that their votes in favour of paying McBride's legal
bills were in direct violation of the
Municipal Finance
Management Act. The municipality currently only allows
for R10 000 to be paid as legal fees per incident but the
council has to date spent many times more than that. -
IOL website
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Magistrates Courts
Boksburg
Cellphone thief pays high price - 21 February
A 25-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after robbing
an elderly citizens of a cellphone and R48, Johannesburg police said
on Saturday. - IOL website
Cape Town
Rape group accepts money from sex offender - 3 March
The Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust says it will accept R30 000 from a
convicted child-sex offender because the "donation" is part of his
punishment. The organisation's director adds that she hopes it
"hurts him to pay". Jan Rabe will have to
pay the money to the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust and a further R30
000 to another city NGO, Cape Mental Health, as part of a plea
bargain agreement between himself and the State. -
IOL website
Koppies
Farmer jailed after violating grave - 24 February
A Free State farmer who forced a couple to exhume their baby's
remains has started his prison sentence, police said on Wednesday.
Fanie Hyman of Koppies was sentenced in the Koppies Magistrate's
Court on Monday and was taken to Kroonstad prison on the same day,
police spokesperson Sergeant Pumzile Makaula said. Media reports
said Hyman was sentenced to two years in jail. -
IOL website
Pietermaritzburg
'Suicidal'
couple in court for murder - 25 February
The Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court
was packed yesterday as dozens of people filed in to hear the
bizarre tale of a young mother and her husband who both allegedly
tried to kill themselves after being arrested on charges of murder.
Kalisha Rajcoomar, 23, allegedly slit her wrists and then
tried to hang herself before police arrested her last Monday in
connection with the murder of her former boyfriend and father of her
11-month-old daughter.
Her husband, Amith Sewkarran, 26, allegedly attempted
suicide last Sunday and was admitted to Pietermaritzburg's
Daymed Hospital. The couple's
suicide attempts followed the gruesome discovery in a bushy area two
weeks ago of the charred body of Rajcoomar's
former lover, Sandesh Poorun, 26, who went missing on February 7.
- The Times
website
Zondi murder suspects confess to magistrates - 5 March
In a surprise move, four suspects arrested in connection with the
murder of retired Pietermaritzburg professor Samuel Zondi made
confessions before separate magistrates at the city's magistrate's
court on Wednesday. Jabulile Hilda Ngcobo, 24, and three men,
Sakhile Hlongwa, 20, Mzwandile Zwane, 20, and Mondli Cele, 22, have
been charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and
two counts of fraud. The accused were initially set to make a
routine appearance in court on Wednesday for them to be remanded
until April. But they surprised the prosecutor, magistrate and
journalists when they made their shock admissions. -
IOL website
Alleged killer is sorry - 5 March
A 24-year-old member of a gang who allegedly tortured and murdered a
Pietermaritzburg professor, said on Thursday she wished to apologise
to his family. Professor Samuel Zondi, 72, was found in his flat
after a locksmith opened it on February 20. He had been tortured,
burnt and gagged, and could have been dead for some time. The woman,
Jabulile Hilda Ngcobo, of Pietermaritzburg, and four co-accused were
appearing in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court when she said
she wanted to apologise. - News24
website
Pretoria
Warrant issued for Kunene's no-show - 19 February
Former hoax e-mail accused Muziwendoda Kunene did not appear in the
Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Thursday. A warrant of arrest was
issued against Kunene but was however held over until his next
appearance on April 3. This came after the state told the court that
Kunene - who is in custody - was standing trial in the Bloemfontein
High Court in a matter that was set down until March 20. -
IOL website
See also :
Free State Provincial Division
above
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Competition
Commission, Tribunal and
Appeal Court
-
http://www.compcom.co.za/
;
http://www.comptrib.co.za/
Competition Tribunal
27 February
2009
11/LM/Jan09 [2009] ZACT 13
Clidet No 817 (Pty) Ltd v Amalgamated Beverage Industries
20 February 2009
107/LM/Oct 08 [2009] ZACT 12
Mobile Telephone Networks Holdings (Pty) Ltd v iTalk Cellular
(Pty) Ltd
13 February 2009
122/LM/Nov08 [2009] ZACT 11
Her Majesty's
Treasury v Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc
10 February 2009
133/LM/DEC08 [2009] ZACT 10
ABSA Bank Limited v Culemborg Investment Properties (Pty) Ltd
9 February 2009
81/LM/Jul08 [2009] ZACT 9
Altech Technologies Limited v Mobile Telephone Networks
Holdings (Proprietary) Limited and Others
3 February 2009
110/CR/Dec06 [2009] ZACT 8
Competition Commission of South Africa v Senwes Limited
30 January 2009
128/LM/Nov07 [2009] ZACT 7
Investec Bank Ltd v RJ Southey (Pty) Ltd
23 January 2009
116/LM/OCT08 [2009] ZACT 6
Government Employees Pension Fund v Certain Properties in
Zenprop Portfolio
22 January 2009
114/LM/Oct08 [2009] ZACT 5
Capital Property Fund Ltd v Monyetla Property Fund Ltd
14 January 2009
106/LM/OCT08 [2009] ZACT 4
New Clicks South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Sharp Move Trading 107
(Pty) Ltd
14 January 2009
123/LM/NOV08 [2009] ZACT 3
First Rand Bank Limited v Unitrans Motors (Pty) Ltd
12 January 2009
124/LM/Nov08 [2009] ZACT 2
Rustenburg Platinum Mines Limited v Changing Tides 166 (Pty)
Ltd and Another
12 January 2009
120/LM/Nov08 [2009] ZACT 1
Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited v WM
Eachus and Company (Pty) Ltd
SAA to face Competition Tribunal again - 27 February
South African Airways (SAA) will have to face the Competition
Tribunal again next week. The tribunal said on Friday that the
application by Comair against SAA will be heard from March 2 to
20. The issue involves a complaint by Comair that SAA had
illegally persuaded travel agents to put business its way. A
settlement was reached at the tribunal on December 4 2006, and SAA
was fined R15-million. However, SAA did not admit liability. -
Mail & Guardian website
Google SA loses country head - 2 March
Last year, Google became embroiled in a Competition Commission
complaint levelled against it by online marketing firm
Entelligence, which accused the local Google operation of
attempting to take control of its customers, and levelling threats
against Entelligence. -
moneyweb website
Nationwide's liquidators to claim damages from SAA - 9 March
The liquidators of Nationwide Airlines hoped current proceedings
before the Competition Tribunal would enable them to claim damages
against SAA for an abuse of power by the national airline, Vernon
Bricknell, the former chief executive of the airline, said on
Friday. - Business Report
website
Bicycle cartel? You better believe it - 5 March
The Competition Commission is investigating a possible cartel
operated by local bicycle retailers, it said on Thursday. "The
commission has initiated an investigation and today issued summons
against two cycle shop retailers, Fritz Pienaar of Fritz Pienaar
Cycles and Andrew Mclean of Cycle Lab". The commission said in a
statement that it had in its possession minutes of a meeting at
which it appeared a group of bicycle retailers met to discuss how
to increase profit margins. - IOL
website
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Human Rights Commission
-
http://www.sahrc.org.za/
Rights commission dismisses FBJ appeal - 23 February
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has dismissed an
appeal against its finding that a forum for black journalists was
unconstitutional in its racially exclusive membership. -
Mail & Guardian website
Appeal against ruling over black journalists' forum dismissed
- 24 February
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has dismissed an appeal
against its finding that a forum for black journalists was
unconstitutional in its racially exclusive membership. Yesterday,
SAHRC spokes-person Vincent Moaga said the appeal was dismissed
last week. In April last year, the commission found that barring
journalists from joining the Forum for Black Journalists (FBJ) on
the basis of race was unconstitutional. -
Cape Times website
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Road Accident Fund -
RAF challenges lawyers' claims - 23 February
The Road Accident Fund paid lawyers representing accident victims
more than R2-billion in the past financial year. And compared with
the R6,69-billion it paid in actual compensation, this was an
"unacceptable ratio", the fund's CEO, Jacob Modise, said in an
affidavit before the Durban High Court. -
IOL website
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SA Human Rights Commission -
http://www.sahrc.org.za/
Parties split on journalists' forum appeal - 23 February
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has dismissed an appeal
against its finding that a forum for black journalists was
unconstitutional in its racially exclusive membership. On Monday,
SAHRC spokesman Vincent Moaga said the appeal was dismissed last
week. In April last year, the commission found that barring
journalists from joining the Forum for Black Journalists (FBJ) on
the basis of race was unconstitutional. -
IOL website
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Government
and Legislation
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South
Africa Government Information
-
http://www.gov.za
;
http://www.polity.org.za
; http://www.buanews.gov.za/
Statements and
Speeches
20
February 2009
Address by the President of the Republic of South Africa,
Kgalema Motlanthe, on the opening of the second session of the
third term of the National House of Traditional Leaders,
Parliament, Cape Town
The Presidency
website
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Legislation
Child Justice Bill
Child
Justice Bill to be implemented next year - 18 March
The country will have its first ever Child Justice Act by April next
year, a law that tries to balance the rights of victims with the
reality that juvenile offenders will be adults one day and that they
need to be rehabilitated. The Bill, recently passed by Parliament,
is inspired by the Constitution and international treaties and laws
concerning children that South Africa either subscribes to or is
party to. - BuaNews Online
website
Competition Amendment
Bill
2008 a year of endurance for competition watchdogs - 24 February
The unusual circumstances surrounding the proposed amendments to the
Competition Act are a welcome reflection of the potential vigour of
our parliamentary system, indicating that President Kgalema
Motlanthe is appropriately interrogating matters that come before
him. His decision to send back the controversial Competition Bill on
the grounds that it might precipitate a constitutional challenge is
in line with concerns raised last year by many legal
practitioners. The process he has initiated may help create some
certainty and prevent the prospect of a constitutional challenge. -
Business Report website
Division of Revenue
Bill Improving Committee
25 February 2009
Division of Revenue Bill Improving Committee
SA Government Information
website
Renaming of the High
Court Act
Courts
renamed : 15 years later - 5 March
The Eastern Cape's
high courts, along with high courts in the rest of the country, have
all been renamed because government considered many of the former
names to "reflect their apartheid origins".
- Dispatch Online website
Western Cape Liquor
Act
Farmers
using "dop system" face up to R1mil fine - 27 February
Western Cape farmers who pay their workers with alcohol instead of
giving them a monthly wage can be fined up to a R1 million under
the Western Cape Liquor Act which was passed in November last
year. The "dop system", where workers are paid with jugs of sweet
white wine instead of money, was outlawed in 1961. However, many
wine farmers in the province are still using the outdated system.
- BuaNews Online website
'Let's close
the bars' - 3 March
The Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry believes
that the time to "close the bar"
in restaurants, hotels and clubs should be midnight and that
supermarket wine departments and bottle stores should be allowed
to operate on Sundays and most public holidays. The Chamber says
it objects to the City's proposed 9pm limit to the serving of
liquor, pointing out that this will damage the tourist and
hospitality industry. - Cape
Business News website
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Useful
Links and Items of Interest
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Legal Profession
South Africa
Property corruption shocker : lawyers take funds - 11 March
Since the introduction of housing subsidies to assist buyers access
finance for entry-level properties, lawyers as well as government
officials have been helping themselves to subsidy funds unlawfully.
This is one of the shock findings to emerge in a report released on
Wednesday on fraud and corruption undertaken by the Special
Investigation Unit (SIU) at the request of the national department
of housing. Investigators have found that in KwaZulu Natal province
alone, 111 firms of attorneys and conveyancers have been involved
and are under investigation on charges of corruption and fraud in
connection with low-income housing subsidies. -
moneyweb website
See also
Housing below
Ireland
Legal ban for peeping solicitor - 2 March
A solicitor who filmed a woman changing in a west Belfast leisure
centre has been banned from practising law. The solicitor was
convicted in January after originally being cleared of voyeurism.
At first, a direction of no case to answer was given because his
victim was wearing a bikini. Because of this it was decided she
was not engaged in a private act according to the
Sexual Offences Act.
Following the conviction, the Law Society of Northern Ireland
referred the case to the independent Solicitors Disciplinary
Tribunal. Although a panel of two lawyers and a lay person decided
against striking him off, they did order his indefinite suspension
after hearing representations late on Friday. -
BBC News website
United Kingdom
Solicitors to take on estate agents - 19 March
Solicitors have declared war on estate agents. They are calling
for a licensing system to bring them under strict regulation and
for greater transparency over what they call excessive fees. Paul
Marsh, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, which
represents 100 000 solicitors, says that taken with stamp duty,
estate agents' fees account for the lion's
share of the costs of a house sale - dwarfing solicitors'
fees from the same transaction. -
Times Online
website
United States
Justice Ginsburg addresses rapt audience at New England Law Boston
- 13 March
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke in a soft voice to
about 180 New England Law Boston students this morning, discussing
the numerous roadblocks she faced as a trailblazer, her
relationship with other justices, and cases that changed American
society. - Boston website
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South Africa
Accounting
Auditors must be protected against spurious litigation - 11
March
The
number of people entering the audit profession, or remaining in it,
is declining, at times dramatically. The prime reason for the
phenomenon is that damage claims arising from alleged professional
negligence are increasing and the amounts claimed are rising to
"staggering" levels, according to a discussion paper just released
by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). -
itinews website
SA sets the pace in new small business accounting standards -
24 February
Finalisation of a new set of accounting standards for small
businesses is at hand. The standards, conceptualised, developed and
refined in South Africa, are expected to serve as a blueprint for
similar initiatives in other, especially developing, countries,
Ewald Müller (Pictured right), senior executive: standards at the
South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), said in
Johannesburg. - itinews
website
Arts and Culture
10 March 2009
Suspension of Amafa AKwaZulu-Natali Chief Executive Officer
SA Government Information
website
13 March 2009
Amafa-AKwaZulu-Natali council reinstated
SA Government Information
website
Black Economic
Empowerment
Jacob Zuma on Black Economic Empowerment - 11 March
Speech by ANC president to Confederation of Black Business
Organisations, Sandton, March 10 2009. -
moneyweb website
Zuma says BEE not 'broad-based enough' - 11 March
The way broad-based black economic empowerment is put into effect
needs reviewing, ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.
"[But] we are not convinced that it has succeeded in addressing the
structural economic and social inequalities in our society," he told
the Confederation of Black Business Organisations (CBBO) in Sandton.
- Mail & Guardian website
Cope : affirmative action misdirected - 13 March
South Africa's black economic empowerment (BEE) scheme, accused of
merely shifting wealth to a few businessmen, should focus on the
impoverished, the leader of the Congress of the People (Cope) said
on Friday. - Mail & Guardian
website
Communications
SABC not
under liquidation, says acting CEO - 5 March
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is not in a
financial crisis and not under liquidation, says the public
broadcaster's Acting Chief Executive Officer Gab Mampone. Addressing
reporters on the SABC's financial turnaround strategy in
Johannesburg on Thursday, Mr Mampone said while the broadcaster was
not insolvent there was a concern about the liquidity of the
organisation. The SABC's financial woes emanated from the SABC's
funding model, the global credit crunch and the rapidly rising costs
of content. - BuaNews Online
website
Company Law
Mergers and acquisitions : way off previous heights - 6 March
The slowdown in mergers, acquisitions and other corporate actions,
became increasingly evident during the second half of last year. -
moneyweb website
King III
King Code III
report
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=4489
King Code III now out - 25 February
The new code applies to all entities and says non-executive
directors should be precluded from receiving share options. For more
key changes from King II to King III read the article. -
moneyweb website
Saica's view on King III - 25 February
It reaffirms SA's prominence in global corporate governance. -
moneyweb website
King 3 codes strengthen sustainability but dilute compliance -
26 February
Companies will be urged to integrate sustainability into financial
reports, establish a framework for executive pay and incorporate
risk management into a beefed-up internal audit system if the
proposed King 3 report on corporate governance is adopted as it
stands. The draft code, released yesterday, comes after a committee
of 108 members led by Mervyn King substantially reworked the 2002
King 2 code of conduct. The final version is set for release in
September 2009 after public input. -
Business Report website
King III reaffirms SA's prominence in global corporate governance
- 26 February
King III reaffirms South Africa's pride of place as a world leader
in corporate governance, says Ewald Müller, senior executive:
standards at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).
- itinews website
Correctional Services
Strategy
discussed to combat gangsterism in prisons - 25 February
A draft strategy to address gangsterism in prisons, presented during
special session of Round Table on Combating Gangsterism in
Correctional Centres in Pretoria on Tuesday, has been welcomed by
the Correctional Services National Commissioner Xoliswa Sibeko.
Commissioner Sibeko described the Draft on Anti-Gangsterism Strategy
as a crucial milestone towards closing the institutional, systemic
and psychological gaps that have helped to sustain the influence of
gangs in Correctional Centres. Integrated and dynamic strategies
were now needed to decrease gangerism and other forms of organised
crime in South Africa's prisons, she said. -
BuaNews Online website
Committee
reports reduced escapes, violence in SA's prisons - 20 February
Over the last five years, there has been a major reduction in
attempted escapes, escapes and gang-related incidents in South
African prisons, according to a report by the Correctional Services
Portfolio Committee. Gang-related incidents in prisons are down from
196 in 1996 to 12 in 2008, while attempted escapes are down from 23
in 2004 to 13 in 2008 and escapes from 176 in 2004 to 70 in 2008. In
a statement welcoming the portfolio committee's report, the National
Commissioner of Correctional Services Xoliswa Sibeko said the
successes were a result of improved security, strategic partnerships
and the suspension of officials of the department that threatened or
compromised security. - BuaNews
Online website
Balfour to fight release of public report - 12 March
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour is going to court in
Pretoria on Friday in a bid to block the release of a report that
the Treatment Action Campaign made public on Thursday. The report,
by former Inspecting Judge of Prisons Nathan Erasmus, recommends
among other things that the law on medical releases should be
revisited. - IOL website
Shaik Case
'Make or break for ANC'
- 28 February
Jacob Zuma, the African National Congress
(ANC) presidential candidate poised to become South Africa's
next president, said will consider giving his former financial
adviser Schabir Shaik, who is serving a 15-year sentence for fraud
and corruption, a presidential pardon if his application falls
within the law. - Business
Day website
Shaik walks free - 3 March
Convicted businessman Schabir Shaik has been granted medical parole
- after months of lobbying by his family and doctors. Shaik was
sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2005 after he was convicted on two
counts of corruption and one of fraud. -
IOL website
Official : Schabir Shaik must be terminally ill - 3 March
Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik, who has been released from jail,
would have to be "in the final stages of a terminal illness" to
qualify for medical parole, a Correctional Services official said on
Tuesday. Shaik, the former financial adviser of African National
Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma, was released on medical parole on
Monday, the department confirmed on Tuesday morning. -
Mail & Guardian website
Minister
claims Shaik’s condition is ‘terminal’ - 4 March
Paroled fraudster Schabir Shaik was in "the
final phase of his terminal condition",
Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour said yesterday.
He was reacting to a storm of protest over the early
release of convicted fraudster Shaik on medical parole.
Shaik was released from prison yesterday after serving two years and
four months of his 15-year prison term. -
Dispatch Online website
Shaik liked takeaways, claim nurses - 4 March
During his stay at Durban's Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital,
convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik allegedly shunned hospital food
and helped himself to Debonairs pizza or Steers meals and food his
wife and brother brought him. His son, Yasir, frequently visited him
and they would spend time together in the hospital's coffee shop. -
IOL website
Balfour declaration Shaiks credibility of rule of law - 4 March
There are two reasons why the minister is patently wrong to reject
the calls from Kollapen and opposition parties to release the
medical information forming the basis upon which the parole board
granted convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik medical parole. Firstly
Shaik is not just someone's brother or
sister but a known associate of the future president of this
country. Someone who has been linked to ANC President Jacob Zuma
with regard to serious allegations of misconduct. Secondly if Shaik
was granted parole on humanitarian grounds or as a result of poor
health rather than in terms of the act, which would of course
necessitate that National Parole Review Board Judge Siraj Desai and
his team review the matter, then all of those prisoners who are
genuinely in their final phase of a terminal illness - and yet have
been denied parole - would need to know about it. - Michael Trapido on the
Thought Leader
blog
Minister
reiterates call for public to come forward with evidence - 5
March
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Enver Surty has
reiterated that any member of the public who has evidence that the
grounds on which Shabir Shaik was granted medical parole was
tainted, should make a representation to the minister of
correctional services. -
BuaNews Online website
More fuel for Shaik review - 9 March
IOL website
Shaik release 'sets precedent' - 4 March
The release of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik for medical reasons
on Tuesday has set a precedent that the Justice for Prisoners and
Detainees Trust will use to push for the release of other terminally
ill prisoners. News that Shaik had been paroled and taken to his
Durban home by ambulance early on Tuesday was followed by an outcry
from opposition political parties, and a variety of reactions from
others. The move was described as a "travesty of justice" by some
people whose relatives had died of terminal illnesses while still in
jail. - IOL website
Shaik parole should be reviewed : Kollapen - 4 March
The decision to release convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik on medical
parole should be referred to the review board, South African Human
Rights Commission chairperson Jody Kollapen said on Wednesday. -
IOL website
Shaik's parole not unprecedented : Surty - 5 March
Convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik's controversial medical parole is
not a unique phenomenon, Justice Minister Enver Surty said on
Thursday at a justice, crime prevention and security cluster
briefing in Pretoria. Surty said in 2007 and 2008, 70 prisoners had
been granted medical parole. - IOL
website
Shaik's parole 'a strange thing' - 7 March
An expert on parole rules on Tuesday called Schabir Shaik's release
on medical grounds "a strange thing". Attorney Clifford Gordon, who
represents prisoners on parole and related matters, said Shaik's
doctors had appealed to the parole board on "humanitarian grounds".
"Which is quite a strange thing," said Gordon. "This is the first
case I've heard of where someone was (granted parole) who wasn't at
death's door". - IOL website
If Shaik gets out, what about Almond? - 9 March
Julian Knight, who is acting pro bono for former security policeman
Almond Nofemela, said he was expecting news of a recommendation from
the National Council for Correctional Services (NCCS) chairperson,
Judge Siraj Desai, on Friday which would be made to the minister
regarding his client's parole. - IOL
website
All fatally ill deserve parole - 5 March
All prisoners in the final stages of terminal illness should request
parole, the Justice for Prisoners and Detainees Trust said on
Thursday. The Trust's president, Derrick Mdluli, said the trust
would help those prisoners in their release bids. -
News24 website
Death of prisoner puts parole issue in focus - 13 March
A prisoner with a terminal illness died at Durban's Westville Prison
hospital, raising further questions about the prisons' parole system
on Friday. - IOL website
Shaik medical board in spotlight - 9 March
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) said on
Monday it will investigate three doctors who allegedly approved
convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik's release on medical parole. -
IOL website
Call for Shaik probe backed by Sama - 13 March
The South African Medical Association (Sama) supports a probe into
the conduct of doctors who recommended fraudster Schabir Shaik for
medical parole, a spokesperson said on Thursday. -
IOL website
Shaik doctor expects fallout - 9 March
The head of the cardiology department at Nkosi Albert Luthuli
Central Hospital, Professor DP Naidoo, fears reprisals because he
spoke out, revealed that he had formally discharged Schabir Shaik
from the hospital in November. - IOL
website
Shaik : Cardiologist probed after complaint - 10 March
The Health Professions Council of South Africa has launched an
investigation into the cardiologist who attended to fraudster
Schabir Shaik. It has emerged that Professor DP Naidoo, who
discharged Shaik four months ago, also recommended that he be
considered for medical parole. In a two-page report, co-authored by
Professor DP Naidoo, head of cardiology at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal's Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, he told the
head of Durban's Westville Prison that Shaik could "not be kept in
hospital indefinitely". The report, which is in the Cape Argus's
possession, adds : "Since the prison
authorities are reluctant to manage him at the prison hospital,
where conditions are sub-optimal, we recommend that he be considered
for medical parole". - IOL
website
How does the parole system work? Review judge explains his role
- 3 March
The chairman of the National Parole Review Board, Judge Siraj Desai,
confirmed yesterday that the controversial release of convicted
Durban businessman Schabir Shaik on medical parole has not been
referred to his board for review. Desai said the review board is the
only body which can review the decision to release Shaik.
The Cape Town-based judge said only the Correctional Services
Minister or the commissioner of prisons can refer a matter to the
review board. Correctional Services took
pains yesterday to point out that the body that granted Shaik's
parole - the Correctional Supervision and
Parole Board - is an autonomous and
apolitical body whose decisions may only be reviewed by the
six-member National Parole Review Board. -
The Witness website
Education
KZN to
increase the number of no-fee schools - 25 February
The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government is to increase the number of
no-fee schools within the province to enable all South Africans to
access quality education. Delivering his Provincial Budget on
Wednesday, MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Zweli Mkhize,
said the provincial government will continue to improve access to
quality education by poor South Africans. "We will do this by
increasing the number of no-fee schools from 40 percent to 60
percent this year," said Dr Mkhize. The total budget for the
provincial Department of Education has increased from R13 billion in
2004/05 to R21.3 billion this financial year. -
BuaNews Online website
Ministry of schools on the cards - 6 March
Plans to split the Education Department into two - one focusing on
schooling, the other on higher education - are at an advanced stage,
African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe has said.
He told members of the Progressive Business Forum in Cape Town that
the ANC would finalise the plan in two weeks. The decision was a
response to the crippling skills shortages the country faced, he
said. - IOL website
Environment
Development poses threat to estuaries - 26 February
The greatest threat to the many scenic, species-rich estuaries
strung along South Africa's long coastline is not climate change,
but ribbon housing development fuelled by greedy municipalities,
says an expert. "Climate change is happening, but development is the
more immediate threat," Professor Janine Adams of the Nelson Mandela
University said at the Implementing
Environmental Water Allocations (IEWA) conference under way in Port
Elizabeth. - IOL website
Political
will and action required to combat climate change - 2 March
Politicians and policy makers need to show political will and action
in order to deal with the issue of climate change, says President
Kgalema Motlanthe. Addressing delegates at the Socialist
International Conference on Monday, the President highlighted that
the conference was taking place at a time when the world faced
serious challenges, not least that of climate change. -
BuaNews Online website
Environmental partners meet to formulate national climate framework
- 3 March
Environmental and climate stakeholders from across the country have
gathered at the National Climate Change Summit to formulate a
framework to lead South Africa in its fight against climate change.
The purpose of the National Framework on Sustainable Development is
to identify the key challenges to South Africa's sustainable
development as well as set the framework for a common understanding
of climate change and necessary interventions. South Africa's
response to climate change is the formulation of the policy
framework document, government then plans to deal with the detailed
planning thereof and finally the implementation of such plans. -
BuaNews Online website
Climate
change White Paper to be drafted by 2010 - 6 March
The National Climate Change Conference has laid the foundations for
a Policy White Paper on climate change to be drafted by 2010 as part
of government's response to the global phenomenon. Speaking after
the conclusion of the conference on Friday, Department of the
Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk
highlighted that the conference far outstripped expectations. -
BuaNews Online website
Finance
Blueprint to save SA jobs, houses, businesses - 19 February
Government, business and labour finalised a blueprint on Thursday for minimising the effect of the global
financial crisis on the South African economy. Trade and Industry
Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa said the main aims of the crisis management
plan - put together at the request of President Kgalema Motlanthe -
were preventing job losses, protecting the poor and enabling the
economy to recover rapidly once the global environment improved. -
Mail & Guardian website
Presidency gives partners a month for rescue package - 24
February
The government, business, labour and community representatives have
been given about a month to come up with details of a rescue package
for sectors hit hard by the global economic crisis, according to
Alan Hirsch, the chief director for policy co-ordination in the
presidency. This follows identification of the affected economic
sectors by the task team set up by President Kgalema Motlanthe to
forge innovative ways of ameliorating the impact of the global
economic meltdown. The task team was led by Herbert Mkhize, the
chief executive of negotiating chamber Nedlac. -
Business Report website
Stimulus framework raises concerns over competitiveness of
industries - 5 March
The framework for South Africa’s response to the international
economic crisis, indicated that ‘rescue packages’ will be set up to
address vulnerable sectors, such as clothing, textiles and footwear,
mining and the auto and capital equipment sectors, however, trade
expert Peter Draper has raised concerns over the document’s
potential threat to competitiveness in these industries.
South African Institute of International Affairs development through
trade project head, Draper, noted that the largest part of the
package put forward by the framework was subsidies, with
developmental financial institutions being mandated to develop
responses for favoured sectors. -
Creamer Media's
Engineering News website
Health
Limits on doctors lifted - 19 February
Doctors and certain other health professionals are to be allowed to
own unlimited shares in private hospitals, but subject to strict
conditions, the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) announced
on Thursday. The 160 000 professionals registered with the council,
who include doctors, dentists and psychologists, but not nurses or
pharmacists, were previously allowed to own only ten percent of the
shares in a private healthcare institution. The cap was set as a
safeguard against over-servicing and self-referral. The council said
in a statement that its ethical rules had been amended to remove the
cap. - Business Report
website
Plan to replace doctors' ethical tariff comes under fire - 12
March
Organisations representing doctors and independent private
hospitals, which do not form part of the large hospital groups such
as Netcare and Mediclinic, have criticised a proposal by the Health
Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) to replace the ethical tariff that
sets the maximum a doctor may charge. Instead, a document would have
to be signed by a patient to accept whatever fee the practitioner
decided to charge. In November2008 the HPCSA said the ethical tariff
would not be used from May 2009. -
Business Report website
Home Affairs
New SA
passport to be introduced in April - 5 March
South Africans who apply for a new passport from next month will be
introduced to a new document with complex security features. -
BuaNews Online website
Housing
Property subsidy corruption saga : more details emerge - 12
March
Not far off 2 000 fraud cases valued at R26m have been
investigated by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) - and that,
says the national department of housing, is the tip of the iceberg
when it comes to cracking down on criminal activities by public
servants. - moneyweb
website
11 March 2009
Remarks
by the Director General of
Housing at a joint media breakfast with the Special Investigating
Unit (SIU) on measures implemented to prevent fraud and corruption
in housing
Department of Housing
website
[17 September 2008]
The National Department of Housing and the Special Investigating
Unit's investigation into low cost housing
Special Investigating Unit
website
See also
Property corruption shocker :
lawyers take funds above
Human Rights
Southern
Africa must develop laws on human trafficking : UN - 25 February
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called on
southern African states to develop comprehensive legislation on
human trafficking. Lucas Duncan of the UNODC Southern Africa
Regional Office said human trafficking had become a major global
concern affecting all regions in the world, including southern
Africa. Mozambique is the only country in the region which has
wide-ranging legislation dealing specifically with trafficking in
persons, said Mr Duncan, adding that until countries harmonized
their legislation, there was nothing they could do to criminalize
this offence. - BuaNews Online
website
Genitals removed while men are alive : report - 4 March
Young men are attacked and their genitals cut off while they are
still alive ; children's throats are slit
and their organs removed; and border-crossers are caught with bags
containing human heads and sexual organs. These stories and more are
contained in a horror report on the trafficking of human body parts
in Mozambique and South Africa. -
IOL website
Lesbians raped to 'cure' them - 13 March
South African lesbians are suffering rapes by men trying to "cure"
their homosexuality, in what is becoming one of the most common hate
crimes against gay women here, a new study said. The study by the
anti-poverty group ActionAid said that women living in townships in
Johannesburg and Cape Town are reporting increasing attacks and
murders by men committing so-called "corrective" rape. -
IOL website
Teacher, boys punished after initiation drama - 21 February
A teacher and 12 matric pupils have been suspended from Parktown
Boys' High School hostel until the end of the first term. The school
has also stripped the hostel head boy of his office. The suspensions
follow exposure in The Star on Tuesday of a brutal midnight
initiation practice on February 2 by the 12 matrics and the hostel
head boy on Grade 11 boys. One of the boys' mothers, Pene Kimber,
blew the whistle, which sparked the furore. -
IOL website
Tuks students expelled over 'degrading' act - 21 February
Three Pretoria University students have been expelled after they
allegedly made several first-year students perform degrading
exercises. The temporary expulsion of the Kiaat hostel students
comes shortly after Parktown Boys High School was embroiled in an
initiation controversy earlier this week. In a statement, Tuks said
the students had allegedly made themselves guilty of gross
misconduct in the treatment of first-years. -
IOL website
Insurance
Insurance claims and prescription - 3 March
This article discusses a case where the insured applied to have a
claim processed prior to the prescriptions period, arguing the date
of commencement. Deneys Reitz was recently successful in a judgment
of the Witwatersrand Local Division of the High Court in December
2008, dealing with the question of prescription of an insurance
claim. - itinews website
Keyphrase :
Insurance exclusion clauses : who has the burden of proof? - 11
March
Insurance policies often contain exclusion clauses. An exclusion
clause allows the insurer to deny liability in the circumstances
described in that clause. Pre-existing exclusion clauses are the
most common reason for denying claims in the complaints that are
submitted to our office. These clauses are used in all policies
where there is no underwriting. -
itinews website
Judiciary
Complaint over judge's
'prejudice' now
'resolved' - 22 February
One of KwaZulu-Natal's youngest judges has
been taken to task for alleged racist remarks.
A formal complaint to the Judicial Service Commission was
lodged against senior Judge Gregory Kruger by a Pietermaritzburg
advocate.
The alleged transgression took place in chambers a few
months ago during a discussion on a Road Accident Fund matter.
Advocate Yoga Moodley claimed he had approached Judge
Kruger to discuss the case and the possible testimony of an expert
witness, an industrial psychologist.
Judge Kruger is alleged to have refused to hear the
application. - The Times
website
Top court's judges in Hlophe's
firing line - 24 February
An unprecedented slanging match between senior judges forms part of
the record now being studied by the nine members of the Supreme
Court of Appeal due to adjudicate on the dispute between Cape Judge
President John Hlophe and the judges of the Constitutional Court.
The nine judges must decide whether the Johannesburg High
Court correctly held that members of the Constitutional Court
unlawfully violated certain rights of Hlophe's
by publishing "untested allegations"
against him.
- Business Day
website
Commission hopes for April Hlophe hearing date - 26 February
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is hoping to hear the matter
relating to Cape Judge President John Hlophe between April 1 and 8,
spokesperson Marumo Moerane said on Thursday. -
Mail & Guardian website
Hlophe butts heads with US judge - 11 March
Embattled Cape Judge President John Hlophe is set to go head to head
next week with a University of Florida law professor who served as
an acting judge in the Cape High Court, when the professor applies
for permission to sue Hlophe for defamation of R6-million. The
action is over comments Hlophe made about the professor in open
court in 2007. Although Hlophe has apologised for the comments,
Professor Winston Nagan refused to accept the apology, which he
described as "begrudging and conditional". -
IOL website
Hlophe defamation application granted - 19 March
An application by a University of Florida law professor to sue Cape
High Court Judge President John Hlophe was granted on Thursday.
Winston Nagan is seeking more than R6-million for remarks Hlophe
made about him while delivering a judgment in March 2007. Judge
Steven Majiedt, who was brought to Cape High Court from the Northern
Cape division, also decided to have the costs of the application
stand over for determination at the trial. -
IOL website
Land Affairs and
Property
SA banks rethink repossession strategy - 23 February
Banks are repossessing fewer houses and cars, debt counselling
organisation Consumer Assist said on Monday. "Banks, which at one
stage were repossessing 10 to 20 houses are now rethinking that
strategy because they have realised that unoccupied houses don't
sell quickly because of the property slump and thieves soon strip
them bare," said chief executive officer Andre Snyman. He said
banks were allowing home-owners to remain in their dwellings and
were renegotiating payment terms - "which is what they should have
done in the first instance". -
Business Report website
Property market haemorrhages jobs - 4 March
South Africa's property market has been knocked so severely by
interest rate cuts and dramatically tighter credit policies that
two out of every three agents who were operating just over a year
ago have left the industry. Hundreds of other residential property
service providers, like originators and contractors, have also
been struggling. -
Realestateweb website
Development
Beware of commercial-to-residential property conversions - 12
March
Buying flats in newly-renovated or converted buildings has as many
potential pitfalls as upsides. Buy-to-let investors, in
particular, should approach the venture wholly armed with the
insight to ensure they do not encounter unbudgeted and
unmanageable financial hurdles that could frustrate their
property's performance. -
moneyweb website
Land Claims and
Expropriation
Evictions in
Woodstock for 2010 World Cup - 23 February
Most residents have lived their whole lives in the street. The
owner of flats in the street, Fatima Gabi, and the City of Cape
Town would like to demolish the buildings to build luxury flats in
time for the 2010 World Cup. Six families - including disabled
persons, pensioners, and children - could lose their right to
adequate housing. These families received lawyers' letters from
the owner's legal advisors who informed them to vacate the
properties on, or before, the 24th of February 2009. If they
refuse, they have been informed that they will have to appear in
the Cape Town Magistrates Court on the above date. -
anarkismo website
KZN police eye suburban brothels - 21 February
Property owners who allow their premises to be used as brothels
could have them seized and sold as authorities and neighbours join
the fight against the scourge sweeping through suburban Durban.
Upmarket areas have been most affected and residents are roving
around with cameras and shooting videos of luxury vehicles picking
up prostitutes and visiting brothels. The pictures are handed to
police. - IOL website
SA idle
farmers face losing land - 5 March
South Africa says it will take over any land allocated to black
farmers which is not being used effectively under a land
redistribution programme. The measure, which takes immediate
effect, was announced by Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana, who
warned farmers should "use it or lose it". She said confiscated
land would go to emerging farmers and co-operatives. -
BBC News website
Minister warns land reform beneficiaries - 5 March
Land and Agriculture Minister Lulu Xingwana warned yesterday that
her top officials would enforce a "use
it or lose it" policy to ensure
land-reform beneficiaries ran productive farms.
She also said the government had run out of money for land reform
in its current budget, and blamed white farmers for charging the
state inflated prices for land-reform farms. -
Business Day website
Govt to
confiscate farms left undeveloped by beneficiaries - 5 March
Farms allocated under the land distribution programme which are
not being utilised properly by beneficiaries will be taken away
and given to other beneficiaries. This is according to Land
Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana who has instructed her Director
General to immediately enforce the "use it or loose it" principle
to land reform beneficiaries who were not utilising their farms. -
BuaNews Online website
Xingwana lines up an injustice all of her own - 6 March
It is understandable that Xingwana and her officials are
frustrated by failed land reform projects, and that they are
unwilling to invest in farm enterprises that never seem to get off
the ground. But it is a very different matter where the minister’s
threat refers to restitution beneficiaries. These are people who
have regained land rights through a land claim. The point of
restitution is the constitutionally defined redress of past land
injustices.
There is nothing in the
constitution or in
the Restitution of Land
Rights Act that compels land claim beneficiaries to farm or
carry on any enterprise. -
Business Day website
Commercial farmers : the new land deal - 9 March
What white farmers think of the govt's plan to take land away from
unproductive beneficiaries. -
moneyweb website
Nafu challenges minister's threat to reclaim land - 9 March
Comments made by Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu
Xingwana, that land given to black farmers as part of
redistribution should be taken back if the farmers were
unproductive, were premature, the National African Farmers' Union
(Nafu) said on Friday. Mandla Buthelezi, the first vice-president
of Nafu, said the union did not believe Xingwana had conducted an
audit to ascertain why most of the farms in black hands had
stopped producing. - Business
Report website
State walks the talk on farm policy - 13 March
The South African government took over a farm this week for the
first time under a controversial new policy of taking back
unproductive farms allocated to blacks as part of a land
redistribution programme. Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister
Lulu Xingwana said the ostrich farm in Hammanskraal, north of the
capital Pretoria, was repossessed "following demeaning reports
regarding the poor conditions of the ostriches". -
IOL website
Land rights at heart of violence in Maandagshoek - 23 February
The platinum-rich Limpopo community of Maandagshoek is at war with
itself, mining companies and the police over land use and the
spoils of mining in the district.
Land rights attorneys and community activists say the
conflict at Maandagshoek, near Burgersfort , is a consequence of
the loss of individual land rights under customary law in SA's
tribal areas where the state has assumed ultimate trusteeship of
the land. - Business Day
website
Mpuma communities get huge tracts of land - 2 March
Land valued at billions of rands has been given to rural
communities in Mpumalanga in the last five years, with over 20 000
beneficiaries, the provincial agriculture and land department said
on Monday. - IOL website
Media
Motlanthe lays complaint against the media - 5 March
President Kgalema Motlanthe had formally laid a complaint with the
press ombudsman, his spokesperson said on Wednesday. Press
ombudsman Joe Thloloe confirmed that two complaints were made by
Motlanthe on Friday, one against the Sunday World and the
other against the Sunday Independent. Both Masebe and
Thloloe declined to discuss what the complaints were about. -
IOL website
Minerals and Energy
New energy laws may scare off investors - 10 March
Green lobbyists fear that draft regulations on electricity
generation, released by government in January, may undermine
investment into renewable energy. The regulations promote
competitive pricing and appear to conflict with an initiative by
Nersa, the energy regulator, to set up preferential tariffs to
promote new, clean energy technologies. -
Mail & Guardian website
BP mulls legal challenge to pipeline tariff hike - 4 March
Transnet's proposed tariff increase to cover the cost of building
a new oil pipeline from Durban to Gauteng will hurt the province's
motorists, BP Africa said on Wednesday. CEO Sipho Maseko told a
press briefing in Johannesburg while BP supported the increase in
pipeline capacity, it believed the proposed 300 percent tariff
increase would have a negative impact on both the industry and on
Gauteng's economy. Challenging the legality of what had been
proposed, Maseko said it contravened the
Pipelines Act.
However, he stressed BP was not against building the new pipeline,
but rather opposed the proposed method of funding it. -
Creamer Media's
Engineering News website
BP bucks inland fuel pipe price hike - 5 March
The implementation of a increase of about 300 percent in Transnet
pipeline tariffs to fund the building of a R13 billion fuel
pipeline between Durban and Johannesburg could result in the loss
of 21 614 jobs in the petroleum and related sectors and a decrease
of R5.5 billion in gross domestic product, BP Southern Africa said
on Wednesday. - Business Report
website
Municipal Management
and Procedure
'Fed up' towns withhold municipal taxes - 12 March
About 220 South African towns were withholding their municipal
taxes due to poor service delivery, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU)
said on Thursday. - Mail & Guardian
website
eThekwini
Getting it wrong 101 : Durban name changes - 12 March
Could the eThekwini municipality have got it more wrong? Probably
not, unless their intention was to make a lot of people angry and
socially and racially paranoid. - Andrew Miller on the
Thought Leader
blog
Press Release
: Valuation Objections
This press release
was emailed out at : 27 February, 2009 19:10
The eThekwini
Municipality has completed in record time the process of
valuating objections with regard to the new valuation roll
that emanated from the move to market
value.
No other
municipality has completed the process within the timeframes
that we have achieved this exercise. All the letters
advising property owners of the outcome
of their objections have been posted this week.
We have also
completed all the objections to the supplementary
valuation roll, however, the letters relating to this will
be issued shortly. The eThekwini
Municipality sincerely appreciates and thank
the objectors for their patience and understanding in this
process which was undertaken for the
first time.
Regarding the
adjustments that have to be made to the billing system
to effect the change in value of the properties
concerned, these will be
processed by the end of April 2009.
However, some adjustments may only be
processed in May 2009 depending on the billing day that the
changes are submitted to the Billing Department.
Accordingly, the
objectors will only see the impact of the change in
valuation on their bills in April or May. However, the
changes will be backdated to 1 July
2008. Further, it must be noted that as the
objections have now been finalized, and ratepayers can no
longer pay on the basis of what they
deem to be fair value. They have to pay on
the basis of the value that emanated from the objection
process.
The special
concessions that were granted to ratepayers during the
objection process do not apply to the appeal process. In
this regard, the new Municipal Property
Rates Act is clear that ratepayers have to
pay on the basis of the objection outcome.
We have received
some appeals. However, the process is now at a
provincial government level. They will now set up the
Independent Appeals Board to deal with
outstanding issues. Be assured that we will
do everything possible to expedite the process. Lastly, the
provincial government has indicated that
they are working on a response and will
be issuing a press release soon.
For more
information, kindly contact the Deputy City Manager
: Treasury, Mr Krish Kumar on 083
4615 106.
Issued by the
eThekwini Communications Department. Contact Themba
Nyathikazi on 031-311 2286/79
Press Release
: Central Beachfront Upgrade - Release of Basic Assessment
Report
This press release
was emailed out at : 23 February, 2009 18:38
Durban's "Golden
Mile"* is set to be upgraded and extended in
preparation for the 2010 FIFA Football World CupTM.
To see the final
version of the Basic Assessment Report on this
project, go to
http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/discover/2010/preparations/durban-central-beachfront-upgrade/basic-assessment-report/
* The 'Golden Mile'
refers to Durban Central Beachfront, a four kilometer
stretch of beaches, promenades, hotels, theme parks,
swimming pools and restaurants. It attracts thousands of
tourists and locals each year. The last
time the promenade received a significant
upgrade was in the mid-1980s and there is broad consensus
that the time is ripe for a fresh look.
The municipality says they "believe the
promenade is one of Durban's greatest assets and that this
proposed upgrade is an important step in
making sure that Durban remains South
Africa's playground into the future". City Manager, Mike Sutcliffe
describes the proposed project as "one of the legacy
projects that will benefit the people of
Durban years after hosting the World Cup".
For more information
please contact :
Mohammed Junaid Yusuf
ERM Southern Africa, Unit 6, Texmaco
House, Cnr Jan Smuts and York Streets,
Winston Park, Durban, South
Africa
Postnet Suite 10301
Private Bag X 1005, Hillcrest
3650
Telephone : 031-767
2080
Fax : 031-764
3643
Cell : 084-700
8836
Email :
junaid.yusuf@erm.com
Press Release :
Notice of Intention to Grant the Lease of Immovable Property to
Warwick Mall (Pty) Limited
This press release
was emailed out at : 25 February, 2009 18:15
eThekwini
Municipality
Strategic Projects
Unit and 2010 Programme
1. Notice is hereby
given that eThekwini Municipality ("the Municipality")
intends to grant the lease of the immovable property, fully
described hereunder, to Warwick Mall (Pty) Limited
(Registration Number 2006/023113/07) for a period of fifty
(50) years, with no right of renewal, at
a once-off rental of R22,5 million, for
the purpose of carrying out the proposed development
in the Warwick area.
2. The immovable
property, which is the subject of the intended
granting of the lease, is described as Proposed Lease (A)
over Remainder of Erf 1 Durban
; Registration Division FT, in the Durban
Entity, Province of KwaZulu-Natal, in extent approximately
1 4920ha, as depicted in Plan S.H.
9616, together with aerial servitude
rights over adjoining pavement areas to Julius Nyerere
Avenue and Market Road.
3. The details
pertaining to the reasons and the impact of the
intended granting of the lease on the Municipality are
contained in the attached Information
Statement (Annexure "A").
4. Members of the
local community and other interested persons are
hereby invited to submit, to the Municipality, comments and
representations in respect of the intended granting of the
lease, at -Address
: 70 Masabalala Yengwa Avenue, Durban 4001
; Telephone :
031-311
4720 ; Fax :
031-368 3150
; E-mail :
strategicprojects@durban.gov.za.
5. Any person who
cannot write may come, during office hours to the
offices of Strategic Projects Unit at the above address,
where Ms Sandra Abrahams will assist
that person to transcribe that person's
comments or representations.
6. The detailed
particulars of the proposed development in the
Warwick area are available on the Municipality's website
(www.durban.gov.za).
Ms Julie-May
Ellingson : Head
: Strategic Projects Unit
Dr Michael O Sutcliffe : City Manager
Annexure "A"
Information
Statement
The Reasons for the
Proposal to Grant the Lease
* The South African
Rail Commuter Corporation ("SARCC") concluded
the lease with Warwick Mall (Pty) Limited ("the Developer")
for aerial rights immediately to the
south of Berea Road Station for the
development of retail and taxi facilities.
*
The Developer approached the Municipality with a proposal to
acquire the lease of what is known as the Early Morning Market
Site, together with certain aerial rights over the
surrounding roads, with a view of
achieving a single, integrated development,
which meets the needs of both the Developer and the
Municipality.
* A significant
retail development of some 30 000m^2 is
then envisaged in Phase 1, spreading
across both the SARCC's and the
Municipality's land which equates to an investment of over R350m
in this area.
Any Expected
Benefits to the Municipality Resulting from Granting of
the Lease
* The development of
the R350m Warwick Mall.
* The Developer will
construct and manage a 400 bay taxi rank. The
management of which shall be undertaken at its own cost and
under terms to be agreed with the
Municipality.
* The Developer will
construct 'Masigiye Square', a
significant public space which runs along Julius Nyerere Avenue
into an open public square bordered by
Wills Road. The costs associated with this
element is to be shared on the basis that the Developer will
contribute the cost associated with 150 trading positions
within this area.
* The Developer will
construct an access ramp off Brook Street, over
the SARCC rail reserve, providing access to the taxi rank
facilities, which will exit via the Khuzimpi Shezi Road
ski-ramp thereby rationalising public
transport movements through Warwick.
* The Developer will
bridge David Webster Street and provide direct
pedestrian access from the Victoria Street Bus Rank Site,
through the Warwick Mall development, to
the taxi rank facilities above and the
Berea Road Station, thus integrating the public elements.
* Masigiye Square is
to be managed by the Developer under terms to be agreed with the
Municipality.
* Subject to the
Municipality being in a position to grant
occupation of the site by April 2009, the Developer commits
to completing this Phase 1 development
ahead of the commencement of the 2010
FIFA Soccer World Cup.
* Within 5 years of
the registration of the proposed lease a minimum of 51% equity
within the Developer is to be held by persons having PDI status.
Any Expected
Proceeds to be Received by the Municipality from Granting
of the Lease
* The payment of a
phased once-off rental of R22,5m being the amount assessed
as the fair market value of the rights proposed
to be granted, in 3 instalments, as follows
:
+ R500 000.00 on signature of the lease
agreement ;
+ R11,0m by 1 May 2010 ; and
+ R11,0m by 1 December 2010
* The Developer will
construct a 400 bay taxi rank at 2nd floor level
over the Early Morning Market Site, for the benefit of the
Municipality (and an appropriate reserve will be registered
in favour of the Municipality in this
regard). This will equate to an R62,8m
investment in public goods (taxi rank), and to which the
Municipality will contribute R24,0m.
Any Expected Gain or
Loss to Realised or Incurred by the Municipality
from Granting of the Lease
* The payment of a
phased once-off rental of R22,5m.
* The construction
of the 400 bay taxi rank, which will equate to an
R62,8m investment in public goods (taxi rank), and to which
the Municipality will contribute R24,0m.
* The R 23,2m cost
of the access ramp, off Brook Street, over the
SARCC rail reserve, providing access to the taxi rank
facilities is to be shared equally by the Municipality and the
Developer.
* There are economic
gains to the Municipality and Warwick Precinct in respect of the
proposed R350m retail centre.
Notice from Remant
Alton
Remant Alton
Suspension of Bus Commuter Service
This press release
was emailed out at : 13 March, 2009 17:17
Durban Transport
A. Notice from
Remant Alton : Suspension of bus commuter service
On 11 March 2009 the
City received notification from the Remant
Alton Board that due to
:
1. The recent violent and intimidatory action by their work force
2. The large portion of mechanically
unsound buses
3. The ongoing financial crisis of the company
That they resolved to suspend the bus service for 30 days until
the above problems are resolved.
B. ETA
Governing Body and Executive Committee
This morning a
report was considered on the matter by the ETA
Governing body and the Executive Committee, and a
resolution was passed that due to Remant
Alton being technically insolvent and in
breach of the contract, Remant Alton be given 14 days notice
within which to remedy the breach.
C. Factors that have
led to the current crisis
Some of the factors,
as captured in the Executive Committee report
are :
1. Problems with the illegal 6 week strike at the end of last year
that derailed the plan of the City to maintain the buses.
2. Problems with the interim maintenance of the buses that has led
to a huge number being off the road. In recent weeks only
150-160 buses have been available and
many scheduled trips have been
cancelled.
3. Problems with the subsidy funding - there was a hold on subsidy
funding in December 2008 and this was only later resolved
following a court application. Ongoing
payment is still in some doubt, and as
from 1 April 2009 the subsidy funding will be further reduced.
4. Problems regarding the financial standing of Remant Alton who
are technically insolvent.
5. Problems regarding recent retrenchments by Remant Alton that
have led to Industrial Relations problems. A Shop Steward
has been killed, buses shot at,
management intimidated, and staff have been
unruly.
D. Way forward
The Executive
Committee has asked for a report at its next meeting on
the way forward. What can be said at this stage is that
there will be a complete cessation of
services for 2-3 month to enable the buses to
be brought up to standard during which time Council will
give consideration to and explore
options for the continued operation of a
bus service.
E. Consequences
In taking this
decision it is realized that there will be hardships
due to the absence of buses for a period. We sincerely
regret this but the reality is that the
service over the past weeks in particular
has been so poor that it can hardly be called a service
anyway.
F. My appeal
As the Mayor to the
City I fully realize that the cessation of the
bus service for several months will cause hardship to many
commuters, but we appeal to you for your
acceptance, understanding and
co-operation whilst we set in motion action to enable a
restructured Durban Transport to be put
in place. In the interim alternative means
of transport will have to be utilized, but our aim is to
restore Durban Transport to a good
standard that will offer a high level of
service to all commuters.
In the next few
days, my office will facilitate meeting with the Taxi
Associations and the Metro Rail, so as to ensure our
citizens have access to alternate means
of transport. Once again I wish to apologise
to our commuters for this inconvenience which I find
regrettable.
Cllr
Obed Mlaba
Mayor
Press Release
: Temporary Suspension of eThekwini Bus Service
This press release
was emailed out at : 18 March, 2009 16:45
City Manager,
Michael Sutcliffe, has lashed out at media reports that
perpetuate misconceptions about the temporary suspension of
the bus service in eThekwini.
This followed a
report by the Sowetan early this week, which claimed
that an estimated 3-million bus commuters across the city
had been left stranded after the City
"terminated" the bus service. The report
went on to say that the ruling party (African National Congress)
in eThekwini had awarded "their cronies"
Remant Alton the bus tender because of
their political association.
Rejecting these
claims Sutcliffe said never on their busiest peak-time
loads had Remant Alton transported 3-million commuters to
and from the City.
"Normal passenger
trips that were carried out by Durban Transport per
Monday to Friday, before the current state of affairs,
would have been 45 000 commuters per
day," said Sutcliffe.
He said the City's
had not terminated Remant's contract but had
"served them a 14-day notice, within which they are
expected to remedy their breach of
Section 39 of their contract with the City". Loosely
translated, this section requires Remant to provide a
stable service of mechanically sound
buses for commuters and to address their
labour-related gripes.
Sutcliffe further
refuted the alleged unfair awarding of the bus
tender to Remant. He said : "The
decision to award Remant Alton the
tender to run the City buses was agreed upon unanimously at
Council.
The mutual feeling,
to which the Democratic Alliance and other opposition
parties at Council agreed, was that Remant were the best
and cheapest bidders to be awarded the tender."
Assuring commuters
city wide that interventions were being made for an
alternate service to be brought about, Sutcliffe expressed
the City's regret for inconveniences
caused to commuters. He said : "We are a
caring City and we are doing everything in our power to
find solutions to the current problem.
"It is most
unfortunate that things have come to a point where the bus
service had to be suspended due to Remant's financial
crisis but we are making every effort to
do what is in the best interest of our
ratepayers," he said.
Interventions
include the City's ongoing talks with the taxi industry,
rail and other bus operators.
Issued by eThekwini
Municipality Communication and PR department.
Contact Ken Mchunu
on 031-311 2281 or email
:
mchunuk@durban.gov.za or Mandla
Nsele, Deputy Head of Communications and PR Department, on 031-311
2276 or NseleM@durban.gov.za
Name Changes
Pretoria or Tshwane : you choose - 19 February
Pretoria and Tshwane can co-exist as the names of South Africa's
capital city and its metro, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe
told an Afrikaner audience this week. "The two could co-exist,"
Mantashe said. This emerged from a statement by the African
National Congress on Thursday. It said Mantashe addressed "a
packed meeting mainly of Afrikaners" in Centurion on Tuesday night
as part of the party's "inclusive South Africa programme".
Mantashe also sought to assure his audience that the Springbok
emblem was not under threat. - IOL
website
National
Prosecuting Authority
Racism allegations spur NPA into action - 28 February
The NationaL Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Friday that it
would ask an independent rights body to probe reports of racist
behaviour by its staff. - IOL
website
Pension Funds
State to probe own pension funds - 19 February
The Government Employees Pension Fund will investigate
improprieties highlighted by the public protector, it said in a
statement on Thursday. Spokeswoman Maemili Ramataboe in a
statement said the GEPF board would "look into the matter
immediately". On Wednesday public protector Lawrence Mushwana
briefed the media on a report highlighting shortcomings in the
administration which may amount to system-wide procedural
deficiencies. - Business Report
website
Mushwana slams 'state illegal pensions grab' - 22 February
Lawrence Mushwana, the public protector, has slammed the
government for "unlawfully" deducting millions of rands from civil
servants' pension funds to recoup debts without employees'
consent. Muswhana said the administrators of the government's
pension fund - which controls member's assets worth R707-billion -
tried to hide this practice from the public, and attempted to
suppress his report. - IOL
website
Investec settles pension dispute - 23 February
Investec has settled its pension dispute with retirement funds
that lost millions when Fedsure collapsed in 2002, the company
said on Monday. "Investec, the Federation of Unions of South
Africa [Fedusa] and the South African Equity Workers Association [Saewa]
have reached an, in principle, amicable agreement with 13
industrial pension and provident funds," the parties said in a
joint statement. The agreement related to the funds' legal claims
arising from issues that occurred prior to Investec's acquisition
of Fedsure in 2001. The settlement amount was not disclosed. -
Mail & Guardian website
Motor industry owes millions to pension funds : Numsa - 4
March
Employers in the motor industry failed to pay millions in workers'
pension and medical aid contributions, the National Union of
Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said on Tuesday. "A bitter row has
emerged over R28 million pension and medical aid contribution
arrears owed by nearly 3 200 companies to industry funds," said
the labour union. It had "forced" the Metal Industries Benefit
Funds Administrators and Metal and Engineering Industries
Bargaining Council (MEIBC) to agree that the matter be referred
for urgent arbitration. -
Business Report website
Politics
Ethics unhinged - 20 February
If the Constitution
is to have any real meaning as a check on executive and
legislative abuse, the courts should draw a line in the sand now.
Our Constitution embodies the doctrine of the separation of powers
- that the legislative, executive and judicial arms of government
should not encroach unduly on one another's territory. But the
figure of the national director of public prosecutions sits at the
intersection of these three arms - and it is for this reason that
his independence is critical and is constitutionally protected.
Editorial. - Mail & Guardian
website
Staff accuse Pityana of 'playing politics' - 28 February
Staff and students at Unisa want Vice-Chancellor Professor Barney
Pityana to resign and they will go to court to force him to if
necessary. On Friday, the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) -
comprising the Young Communist League, South African Students
Congress and the African National Congress Youth League as well as
the National Health, Education and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu),
accused Pityana of "neglecting his fiduciary duties" at Unisa. -
IOL website
Pityana warns of ANC 'plot' - 1 March
Barney Pityana is seeking a restraining order against the ANC
following alleged attempts to remove him by force from the office
of vice chancellor of the University of South Africa last week. In
a letter sent to ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Friday,
Pityana said he was in receipt of "reliable intelligence that at a
meeting held at Luthuli House" on Thursday "a campaign was
launched to force (his) resignation because of the views I express
on national issues," which he argues is his basic constitutional
right. - IOL website
Zuma’s missing years come to light - 22 February
At the end of last year, a biography was published on Zuma which
was perhaps more interesting for what it did not contain. Written
by journalist Jeremy Gordin, it fails to mention, for instance,
that Zuma was a life-long communist. -
The Times website
See also :
Molotov Cocktail
Magazine website
Taxation Law
More retirement tax relief in sight - 25 February
Good news for taxpayers is that there appears to be more relief in
sight. - moneyweb website
SARS new administrative penalties take effect - 4 March
Regulations prescribing administrative penalties for
non-compliance have been gazetted. Section 75B of the
Income Tax Act 58 of 1962
is applicable. The purpose is to ensure the widest possible
compliance with the provisions of the Act and the effective
administration of the tax system by ensuring that any penalty is
imposed impartially, consistently and proportionately to the
seriousness of the non-compliance. -
itinews website
Dividends tax means shareholders pay more tax - 5 March
South Africa has just fallen in line with international tax trends
with the introduction of a dividends tax to replace the secondary
tax on companies (STC), a move likely to make South Africa a more
attractive foreign investment destination. However, while this may
simplify tax from the perspective of foreign investors, and go
some way to attracting capital flows, for local companies it
introduces a number of complexities. -
Moneywebtax website
Sars improves tax forms - 9 March
Tax forms for the 2009 tax season have been updated and improved,
the South African Revenue Service (Sars) said on Monday. Draft
versions of all income tax forms for the 2009 Tax Season had been
released for comment and feedback from taxpayers and
practitioners. - Business
Report website
Overseas subsistence allowances no longer taxable - 10 March
The minister of finance previously mentioned the introduction of
an overseas subsistence allowance that will differ based on the
country to which the employee will travel. It was assumed that
this allowance would be based on the cost of living applicable in
the particular country. There has now been a development in this
regard. - moneyweb
website
10 March 2009
Draft regulations relating to tax incentives in support of
government's industrial policy strategy, an additional investment
allowance and additional training allowance for certain
manufacturing sectors
SA Government Information
website
Trade and Industry
History of trade tariffs in South Africa - 19 February
This year marks the 331st anniversary of the imposition of
tariffs, better known as customs duties, in South Africa. Tariffs
were imposed after the Cape (the Cape Colony) came under the
control of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC). It is quite
possible that customs duties were imposed prior to 1678, with
European settlers arriving at the Cape in 1652, but their regular
use is only documented from 1678. The use of customs duties has,
without question, been an integral part of South Africa's
economic history and development, and even to this day remains
important as a public instrument, even though, as a fiscal
measure, the use of customs duties has diminished significantly in
recent years. -
Creamer Media's Engineering News website
How
tattered State rescue plan has hurt the textiles industry - 20
March
AS SA joins other countries mulling rescue plans for companies
reeling from the global economic crisis, it is worth considering
SA's policy interventions before the crisis. The interventions in
the ailing clothing and textiles industry provide an apt case
study. - allAfrica website
Trade Marks
S African firm wins case to protect trademark - 24 February
A South African manufacturer of wines distributed in Kenya and the
region has won a court battle over the use of its trademark. Distell
Limited, the brewer of brands that include Viceroy, Amarula Cream,
Count Pushkin Vodka, Cellar Cask Claret and Drostdy-Hof Range, moved
to the High Court seeking orders to block Distell Kenya Limited from
using its trademark to market. -
Business Daily website
Traditional Leaders
New govt
will continue strengthening traditional leadership - 12 March
President Kgalema Motlanthe has assured the National House of
Traditional Leaders that government, under a new administration,
will remain committed to strengthening the House and its
institutions. Addressing the House at the Tshwane Metropolitan
Municipality's Council Chambers on Thursday, the President said
: "I am equally certain that based on this collaboration,
the new government will take the issue of Traditional Leadership
to a qualitatively higher level". -
BuaNews Online website
Traditional leaders seek better deal - 13 March
Traditional leaders have complained to President Kgalema Motlanthe
about poor salaries, inadequate budgets and a lack of co-operation
from government departments. Motlanthe was at the Tshwane
Municipal Chambers yesterday to respond to issues raised by the
National House of Traditional Leaders since his speech at the
annual opening of the house last month. -
IOL website
Transport and Roads
End of the road for toll plazas - 13 March
The toll man is preparing to demolish his network of
toll-collection plazas throughout South Africa over the next three
years in preparation for a revolutionary new scheme - open-road
tolling. Instead of stopping at plazas to pay, passing motorists
will be charged automatically via an electronic scanning system
which detects transponder chips fitted to windscreens. At the end
of each month, motorists will receive bills in the post. -
IOL website
Absa puts the brakes on finance for taxis - 20 February
Absa has suspended all taxi vehicle finance approvals because of
its inability to verify the authenticity of taxi operating
licences after the alleged theft of 800 000 operating permits at
the end of 2008. - Business
Report website
SAA boss gets his wings clipped - 11 March
Worker power has claimed its second high-profile victim in as many
months, clipping the wings of once powerful South African Airways
boss Khaya Ngqula. Ngqula on Wednesday spends his first day
unemployed after he was fired by the SAA board following an
independent investigation into allegations of conflict of interest
that centred on his wife's business deals. The probe was
instigated by the South African Transport and Allied Workers'
Union (Satawu), which handed over a dossier of complaints against
Ngqula to Public Enterprises Minister Brigitte Mabandla. -
IOL website
Khaya flies out of a revolving door - 11 March
Only four of ten SAA executives who reported to Ngqula in 2006
were still in place before Ngqula himself made his enigmatic exit.
They are: Thelma Melk, company secretary, Louise Zondo, general
counsel, Jan Blake, GM mergers and acquisitions and Patrick
Dlamini, GM SAA cargo. Ngqula went through chief financial
officers at the rate of nearly one a year. -
moneyweb website
Ngqula boards gravy plane - 15 March
Ousted South African Airways chief executive Khaya Ngqula has
received more than R33-million in salary, bonuses and severance
pay from the troubled national carrier. According to SAA's annual
reports, Ngqula earned R2 295 000 in the 2004/05 financial year,
R6 850 000 in the 2005/06 book year including a R1 850 000 bonus
payment, and R5-million in the 2006/07 financial year. -
IOL website
Cabinet takes exception to SAA CEO's
financial settlement - 18 March
Cabinet has taken exception to the financial settlement reached
between the Board of South African Airways and its former Chief
Executive Officer Khaya Ngqula. This, as the reported settlement
was reached at a time when serious allegations of misconduct were
being investigated by the board. "Government's preference was that
the CEO should have remained on leave whilst the allegations were
being investigated," Government Spokesperson Themba Maseko said on
Wednesday following cabinet's ordinary meeting in Pretoria. -
BuaNews Online website
Miscellaneous
Rivonia
Trial records listed on intl register - 19 February
Two of South Africa's most historic archival collections have been
listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation's (UNESCO) Memory of the World International
Register. The collections of records from the Rivonia Trial and
the Liberation Struggle Living Archive have been inscripted to the
international register which aims to identify and preserve
documentary heritage from all over the world. The UNESCO register
also raises awareness of documentary heritage and promotes public
access to them. - BuaNews
Online website
See :
Memory of the world.
UNESCO's programme
aiming at preservation and dissemination of valuable archive
holdings and library collections worldwide
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1538&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
How secure is the rule of law in South Africa? - 5 March
South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution, enacted in 1994, has
been hailed widely as a model of modern constitutional democracy.
Has its implementation matched its promise? It certainly began
well but there are worrying signs. -
Times Online
website
Programme to increase knowledge of rights in rural areas - 16
March
The Access to Justice and Promotion of Constitutional Rights
Programme, which will kick-off next month, will be used as a key
mechanism to improve access to justice for all, particularly the
marginalised, writes Professor Ndawonde.
The Access to Justice and Promotion of Constitutional Rights
Programme has been developed by the Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development and European Union. It aims to
contribute to the strengthening of democracy by improving access
to justice and promoting constitutional rights for the most
vulnerable in partnership with civil organizations. -
BuaNews Online website
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Africa
Guinea-Bissau
World leaders call for constitutional rule after assassinations
- 3 March
The United Nations, the African Union and various nations have
called for constitutional order in Guinea-Bissau after Monday's
assassination of President Joao Bernardo Vieira and the killing of
the nation's chief of staff. -
France24 website
G-Bissau
asks not to be abandoned - 4 March
Guinea-Bissau's new leader Raimundo Pereira has appealed for
international help to stabilise the country in the wake of the
president's assassination. The parliament's speaker, who was sworn
in as interim leader on Tuesday, asked the world not to abandon his
country. - BBC News website
Kenya
Kenya's continuing tribal divide - 21 February
Next week marks a year since Kenya's political rivals, Mwai Kibaki
and Raila Odinga, signed a power-sharing agreement designed to end
the violence between their tribal allies. Pascale Harter went back
to the scene of some of the worst violence to see if there really
has been an attempt at reconciliation. -
BBC News website
Zambia
Ex-Zambian
leader's wife jailed - 3 March
The wife of Zambia's former President Frederick Chiluba has been
jailed for three-and-a-half years. Regina Chiluba was found guilty
of receiving stolen state funds to buy three houses and a commercial
property while her husband was in office. -
BBC News website
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
judge orders MDC release - 11 March
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered the state to release Roy
Bennett - a ministerial nominee of the former opposition MDC party
- on bail. He was arrested on 13 February as MDC officials were
sworn in as ministers. - BBC News
website
Five Zimbabwe activists freed on bail - 2 March
Leading Zimbabwean human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and four
other activists were freed on bail Monday, in cases seen as a test
of the new unity government, their lawyers said Monday. The five
were each ordered to pay 600 US dollars in bail and to surrender
their passports, their lawyers said. -
The Times website
19 February 2009
Petition handed to the President Kgalema Motlanthe [by the]
Revolutionary Youth Movement of Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean
website
Obama
renews Zimbabwe sanctions - 5 March
President Obama has announced that US sanctions against Zimbabwe
will continue for another year. The extension of sanctions was
aimed at President Robert Mugabe and members of his government, he
said. The political crisis in Zimbabwe remained unresolved and was
a "threat" to US policy, said Mr Obama. -
BBC News website
New
Constitution likely in 2 years : Mugabe - 27 February
Zimbabwe is likely to have a new Constitution within the next 18
to 24 months after which voters will head back to the polls for
fresh elections, President Robert Mugabe has announced. In his
traditional birthday interview at Zimbabwe House in Harare this
week, the President said the new inclusive government bringing
together his Zanu-PF party and the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) was not a permanent arrangement. He said in addition to
working on economic recovery, the unity government would put
forward a draft constitution in preparation for the elections. -
BuaNews Online website
Elderly Britons given lifeline out of Zimbabwe - 18 February
Hundreds of British citizens are being offered a resettlement
package to leave worsening economic conditions in Zimbabwe and
move to Britain, The Times has learnt. The emergency
measure to fly people out of the country comes as increasing
numbers of residents approach the British Embassy in Harare asking
for help to leave. Up to 1 500 elderly
and infirm Britons are expected to take advantage of the British
Government's "Zimbabwe Resettlement
Programme". -
Times Online website
Stop your racist land grab, tribunal tells Robert Mugabe - 5
March
Robert Mugabe vowed recently to continue his land reform programme
involving the seizure of white-owned farms. But the strategy has
been dealt a blow by a recent ruling of a little-known
international tribunal. Upholding the claims of 79 landowners, the
tribunal of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) held
that that the seizure of land by the Government of Zimbabwe is
arbitrary, racially discriminatory and contrary to the rule of
law. In a major embarrassment to Robert Mugabe and his
administration, the tribunal also ordered the Zimbabwean
Government to protect the occupation of those of the applicants
who remain on their land and to pay compensation to those who have
been evicted. If Zimbabwe does not comply with the order it will
be in clear contravention of its international obligations to its
Southern African neighbours. -
Times Online
website
Zimbabwe
farmer : 'I'm not giving up' - 24 February
Dozens of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe have reportedly been
invaded by supporters of President Robert Mugabe this month as the
long-time opposition joined a national unity government. Some
suspect this is part of an attempt by hardline Mugabe supporters
to scuttle the agreement. Catherine Meredith tells the BBC what
happened to her farm. - BBC News
website
Tsvangirai
crash driver in court - 9 March
The lorry driver involved in the road collision that killed
Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, is due in
court. Chinoona Mwanda will plead not guilty to a charge of
culpable homicide over Friday's crash, his lawyer said. -
BBC News website
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Asia
India
India
'helped win Gandhi auction' - 6 March
India says it helped a businessman buy belongings of Mahatma
Gandhi at a controversial auction in New York. Delhi said its
culture and external affairs ministry worked with Vijay Mallya to
procure the items for India for $1.8m (£1.27m). Mahatma Gandhi's
great grandson says he is "delighted" that the personal effects
will now return to India. The auction went ahead despite protests
from Delhi and a last-minute bid by the seller to halt
proceedings. - BBC News
website
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Europe
EU 'terror'
racquets court ruling - 11 March
A secret EU list of items banned from being carried on to aircraft
has been declared illegal by the European Court of Justice. The case
was brought by an Austrian amateur tennis player who was thrown off
a flight in Vienna in 2005. - BBC
News website
EU
Commission hails enlargement - 20 February
The European Commission says the 27-nation EU must not let the
current economic crisis jeopardise the gains of eastward
enlargement. A commission report says the accession of 12 states
since 2004 - mostly ex-Soviet bloc countries - boosted living
standards and business opportunities. It said enlargement served as
an anchor for stability and driver of democracy. But there are
concerns that EU states may be tempted to prop up weak domestic
firms at their neighbours' expense. -
BBC News website
Lisbon
Treaty impact - 6 March
All but a few of the EU's 27 member states have ratified the Lisbon
Treaty, which is aimed at streamlining EU institutions. But the
controversial treaty will not come into force unless all of them do
so. Here, as part of a series of viewpoints on EU issues, two
European think-tank experts argue for and against the treaty. -
BBC News website
EU to propose new regulatory regime - 4 March
The EU's executive arm will propose a raft of new measures on
Wedenesday that include a reform of financial supervision and
bankers' pay, according to a draft document due to be published by
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso. -
Business Report website
EU judges
back UK retirement age - 5 March
The UK's compulsory retirement age of 65 is not in breach of EU
legislation, according to a ruling by the European Court of Justice
(ECJ). The case was brought by Age Concern, which wanted to know
whether it was legal for UK employers to force workers to retire at
the age of 65. But the ECJ said the practice was legal if it had a
legitimate aim related to employment and social policy. -
BBC News website
Italy
Italy
passes emergency rape law - 24 February
Italy's government has rushed through a decree to crack down on
sexual violence and illegal immigration after a spate of rapes
blamed on foreigners. The decree sets a mandatory life sentence
for the rape of minors or attacks where the victim is killed. It
also establishes rules for citizen street patrols to be conducted
by unarmed and unpaid volunteers. -
BBC News website
Death
probe for coma-case father - 27 February
The father of a woman who was at the centre of a right to die
battle which split Italy is under investigation for murder,
prosecutors have said. Eluana Englaro died on 9 February after
doctors removed her feeding tubes. She had been in a coma since
1992. A court had ruled her treatment could be stopped in
accordance with what her father said were her wishes. -
BBC News website
Nude property sales - 10 March
Italians are finding "nude" property offerings an attractive way
to go. TheMoveChannel reports that elderly Italians are
being forced to do something they have never considered before
: sell family homes to strangers at a discount on condition
they can stay until they die. "The cash transactions are called
'nude sales' in Italy because in most
cases the owners are stripped of ownership while retaining use of
the property until they die. While they account for only 5% of
Italian sales, they represent one of the few boom areas as the
slump deepens," says the international property website. -
moneyweb website
Spain
Spanish pub owner gets blasted for noise - 16 March
A Spanish pub owner has been handed the unprecedented sentence of
five and half years in prison for the loud music played in her
establishment, a Barcelona court said in a verdict which was made
public on Monday. The music was played at more than 43 decibels,
far surpassing the legal limit, until 3 am in 2005 and 2006, the
court said. Such behaviour was deemed to have "seriously damaged"
the health of three people living in the same block of flats who
had to undergo psychiatric treatment and take tranquillizers. -
IOL website
Switzerland
Swiss
blackmail 'gigolo' jailed - 9 March
A Swiss man has been jailed for six years for defrauding Germany's
richest woman out of millions of euros and attempting to blackmail
her. Helg Sgarbi, dubbed the Swiss Gigolo by the media, was also
convicted at his trial in Munich of similar scams against three
other, unnamed women. He extracted 7m euros ($8.8m
; £6.4m) from BMW heiress Susanne Klatten. -
BBC News website
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Middle East
Turkey
MP breaks
language law in Turkey - 25 February
A prominent Kurdish politician has defied Turkish law by giving a
speech to parliament in his native Kurdish. Ahmet Turk was
addressing his party in parliament when he suddenly switched
language from Turkish to Kurdish. The live broadcast on state TV
was immediately cut, as the language is banned in parliament. -
BBC News website
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Oceania
Fiji
Fiji
coup leader rules out vote - 5 March
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the military ruler of Fiji, has
rejected a demand from the Commonwealth to prepare for elections.
The international body has set a six-month deadline for progress
toward democracy under threat of expulsion. Mr Bainimarama said
there would be no election in the near future as it would probably
"make things worse". He ousted the elected government in a 2006 coup
after which the Commonwealth suspended Fiji's membership. -
BBC News website
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United Kingdom
Cayman Islands
Constitutional realities - 18 March
The announcement on Monday by the Governor of the Turks and Caicos
Islands that the territory's constitution
will be partially suspended for a period of two years (more or less)
should highlight certain realities when it comes to our relationship
with Britain, whether under the existing constitution or a new one
in any form. Editorial. -
Cayman Net News website
Courts
Crunch victim tycoon 'can't settle' his £9.5m divorce bill -
12 March
When the tycoon Brian Myerson agreed to pay his wife a £9.5m
divorce settlement last spring he knew he could afford it. But
that was before the recession hit so Mr Myerson has turned to the
courts to ask them to reduce the payment because he says the
credit crunch will leave him broke. Lord Justice Thorpe, one of
the most senior family judges in the country, described Mr
Myerson's predicament as a "rum do" and agreed to hear his claim
for what the tycoon described as a "fairer" settlement. The case
is expected to affect many other multimillion-pound divorces
settled before the credit crunch. -
The Independent
website
Divorce could leave tycoon £1/2m in the red. That’s a rum do,
says judge - 11 March
The Court of Appeal heard today that Mr Myerson paid his wife,
Ingrid, £11 million, made up of a cash settlement of
£9.5 million and a house in South Africa valued at £1.5 million.
The agreement, reached in February 2008, left him with
£14.5 million in assets - or 57 per cent of the couple's total
worth. But since the deal was reached the share price in Mr
Myerson's investment company Principle Capital Holding has
plummeted from around £2.95 to just 27.5p today. -
Evening Standard
website
UK tycoon asks court to reduce divorce payment - 11 March
An investment tycoon asked a British court Wednesday to trim the
size of his multimillion-pound (-dollar) divorce settlement
because the value of his assets had fallen amid the world
financial turmoil. Myerson, a 50-year-old native of South
Africa, is a founding partner of Principle Capital, which
invests in infrastructure, property, energy and equities. The
group's share price has collapsed, falling from more than 150
pence last year to 20 pence Wednesday on the London Stock
Exchange. A lawyer for Myerson's ex-wife said the investment
tycoon was working in a high-risk environment and should have
foreseen the financial trouble when he agreed to the settlement.
-
Associated Press website hosted by Google
'Gents, divorce now : you'll
save a bundle' - 15 March
As London's top divorce solicitor,
Raymond Tooth has a fearsome
reputation for landing ex-wives enormous settlements. Last week,
however, he appeared to have broken even his own record when it
emerged that one of his clients, Ingrid Myerson, had in effect
become entitled to 105% of her ex-husband's
assets. - Times
Online website
Cyberlaw
Firms in
data row deny wrongdoing - 6 March
Several firms accused of subscribing to a secret database of
building workers' details have denied any wrongdoing. The
Information Commissioner says a firm called the Consulting
Association flagged up workers who had raised safety concerns or who
had union links. - BBC News
website
Health
Contaminated blood cases 'tragic' - 24 February
A public inquiry has condemned the failings that led to thousands
of people being infected with HIV and hepatitis C from
contaminated blood. The independent privately-funded inquiry
called the use of contaminated blood products to treat patients
with haemophilia a "horrific human tragedy". In the 1970s and
1980s, nearly 5 000 people were exposed to hepatitis C. Of these,
more than 1 200 were also infected with HIV. Almost 2 000 of those
people have since died as a result. -
BBC News website
EU red
tape 'blocks drug trials' - 12 March
Red tape is severely hampering clinical research in the UK and
inadvertently "killing people", leading researchers have warned.
European legislation introduced in 2004 has led to fewer patients
enrolled in clinical trials and has caused "huge delays" in
research, they said. - BBC News
website
Human Rights
Guantanamo man 'can settle in UK' - 21 February
A UK resident soon to be released from Guantanamo Bay is unlikely
to face harassment by British authorities, says the UK reviewer of
terror laws. Lord Carlile said he thought Binyam Mohamed would be
"given every opportunity, subject to the law, to integrate himself
back" into society. Mr Mohamed has been detained since 2002 and
spent more than four years at the controversial US military base
in Cuba. It is not clear if the Ethiopian-born man will be allowed
to stay in the UK. - BBC News
website
Top judge holds out leniency to suicide helpers - 20 February
The country's top judge indicated yesterday that the courts would
throw out prosecutions of people who assisted in the suicide of
terminally ill patients. -
Times Online
website
Labour Law
Serial litigators cash in on 'errors' in job ads - 2 March
A lawyer who discovered one individual had made more than 50
compensation claims involving alleged age discrimination is calling
for changes in employment law to make it easier for employers to
identify "nuisance claims" and the "serial litigant". -
Telegraph website
Transport and Roads
Peer jailed for motorway texting - 25 February
A Labour peer who sent and received text messages minutes before
he was involved in a fatal crash on the M1 has been jailed for 12
weeks. Lord Ahmed was driving his Jaguar when he hit a stationary
car in the outside lane of the motorway - Martyn Gombar was
killed. Lord Ahmed, of Rotherham, had admitted driving
dangerously. - BBC News
website
Miscellaneous
Lawyers examine payoff of banker blamed for losing billions at
HBOS - 28 February
The payoff for the executive blamed for losing HBOS billions was
under investigation yesterday after lawyers raised questions about
his contractual entitlements, The Times has learnt. A top
City legal firm was appointed to examine the "obscene"
pension award to Sir Fred Goodwin. -
Times Online
website
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United States and Canada
Animal Rights
US
fortune 'not solely for dogs' - 26 February
The fortune left by late real estate tycoon Leona Helmsley, dubbed
the "Queen of Mean" during a trial in 1989 for tax evasion, can go
to charities other than those solely related to dogs, a US court
has ruled. A New York City judge said that Helmsley's legal
documents allowed her estate's trustees "sole discretion" in
donating the money to charity. When Helmsley died in 2007 it was
widely reported that she wanted her $8bn fortune spent only on
canines. - BBC News website
Anti-Terrorism
Ridge :
We were wrong to torture - 21 February
America's first homeland security secretary has accepted some
criticisms of the US "war on terror" made in a recent report by
legal experts. Tom Ridge told the BBC that the report's attacks on
extended detention and torture were justified. But he also said
the US had been dealing with a new kind of threat. The report the
International Commission of Jurists said anti-terror measures
worldwide had seriously undermined international human rights law.
- BBC News website
Canada
Canada
inquiry told of Taser use - 3 March
A Canadian police officer who killed a Polish immigrant with a
Taser stun gun said he believed the man had intended to attack
officers with a stapler. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable
Kwesi Millington told a public inquiry that Robert Dziekanski had
shown "an intent to attack". Mr Dziekanski was repeatedly stunned
at Vancouver airport in October 2007. His death led Canadian
police to tighten up procedures for the use of stun guns on
suspects resisting arrest. - BBC
News website
Finance
Madoff
'due to enter guilty plea' - 12 March
Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff has entered a courtroom in
Manhattan to plead on 11 charges linked to his alleged $50bn
(£35bn) fraud. Prosecutors want a 150-year jail sentence for Mr
Madoff, who is expected to plead guilty to all charges. -
BBC News website
Madoff
admits $50bn fraud scheme - 12 March
Disgraced US financier Bernard Madoff has been jailed after
pleading guilty to all 11 charges surrounding an estimated $50bn
(£35bn) fraud. - BBC News
website
Madoff's $823m life of luxury - 14 March
Court documents released on Friday show that Bernard Madoff and
his wife Ruth lived a life of high luxury, with exclusive homes,
yachts and other assets worth $823-million. -
Mail & Guardian website
Prosecutors will seek Madoff's wife's money - 16 March
Federal prosecutors have notified a New York court that they also
want the assets of Bernard Madoff's wife. In a court filing, the
government said it will seek the $7-million Manhattan penthouse as
well as another $62-million that Ruth Madoff had sought to keep. -
Mail & Guardian website
Accountant for Madoff is arrested and charged with securities
fraud - 18 March
The federal investigation into Bernard L Madoff's
$65 billion Ponzi scheme widened Wednesday with the arrest of
David G Friehling, an accountant who had audited Mr Madoff's
investment advisory business for more than a decade. -
NewYork Times website
Madoff
asks court to release him - 19 March
Disgraced US financier Bernard Madoff has asked a court to free
him on bail as he awaits his fate for masterminding a $50bn
(£35bn) investment fraud. - BBC
News website
Human Rights
CIA
destroyed 92 interview tapes - 2 March
The Central intelligence Agency (CIA) has destroyed 92 tapes of
interviews conducted with terror suspects, a US government lawyer
has admitted. The agency had previously said that it had destroyed
only two tapes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has
launched a lawsuit against the CIA to seek details of the
interrogations of terror suspects. -
BBC News website
Legislation
New US
law eases Cuba sanctions - 11 March
US President Barack Obama has signed into law a government
spending bill that will ease some of Washington's economic
sanctions on Cuba. He said the bill was imperfect because
Congressmen had added pet projects to the $410bn package that will
fund government spending until September. Cuban-Americans will be
allowed to travel to the island once a year and send more money to
relatives there. - BBC News
website
Obama
ends stem cell funding ban - 9 March
US President Barack Obama has lifted restrictions on federal
funding for research on new stem cell lines. Mr Obama signed an
executive order in a major reversal of US policy, pledging to
"vigorously support" new research. -
BBC News website
Miscellaneous
Charges
over Anna Nicole drug use - 13 March
Two doctors and the former boyfriend of late Playboy model Anna
Nicole Smith have been charged with conspiring to give her
prescription drugs. Howard Stern, a long-term boyfriend, Sandeep
Kapoor and Khristine Eroshevich are alleged to have fraudulently
prescribed her thousands of pills. -
BBC News website
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International
Cyberlaw
Hacker
step closer to extradition - 26 February
British
computer hacker Gary McKinnon has lost the latest round of his
battle against extradition to the US. The Crown Prosecution
Service refused to bring charges against him in the UK. Mr
McKinnon, 42, from Wood Green, north London, faces up to 70 years
in prison if found guilty in the US of breaking into military
computers. His lawyers appealed for him to be prosecuted in the UK
on lesser charges, but the CPS said the best place for the case to
be heard was the US. Mr McKinnon has always said he had no
malicious intent but was looking for classified documents on UFOs
which he believed the US authorities had suppressed. -
BBC News website
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