Judges
halt sand dune mining - 23 August
A Western Cape High Court decision has effectively halted mining
operations at two sand dunes in the heart of the Cape Flats. The
sand dunes are in the Mitchells Plain suburbs of Westridge and
Rocklands. Two judges ruled on Friday that mining operations
could not continue until black empowerment mining firm Maccsand
had obtained zoning authorisation under the Western
Cape Land Use Planning Ordinance (Lupo), as well as
environmental clearance under the National
Environmental Management Act. - IOL
website
Keyphrases :
Environment
Minerals and Energy
High
Court finds for municipal planning legislation - 23 August
The Western Cape High Court delivered an important judgment last
week confirming that a permit from the national Department of
Mineral Resources granted to a local mining company to mine sand
on environmentally sensitive municipal land in Mitchells Plain
did not give the company the right to ignore land zoning
regulations and environmental legislation. In a finding that
would affect the mining industry, the court confirmed that
national mining legislation did not have veto power over other
legislation. The constitution protected municipal planning and
the environment. - IOL
website
Mining
rights legislation to be tightened - 24 August
Western Cape Environmental Affairs MEC Anton Bredell on Tuesday
said current legislation on the awarding of mining rights must
be tightened to prevent loopholes from emerging. He reacted to a
recent High Court ruling which has banned mining company
Maccsand from doing work on a piece of land in Rocklands,
Mitchell’s Plain. - Eye
Witness News website
Environment
lobby welcomes landmark ruling - 25 August
When a mining company bulldozed the Rocklands Dune near
Mitchells Plain, it set in motion events which led to a landmark
court decision: the Department of Mining cannot ride roughshod
over environmental and planning laws. Nor are the Department of
Mining's laws more powerful than environmental and planning
laws, so cannot trump them. - IOL
website
See
also :
Challenge
to mining of sand dunes -
16 April
[2010]
Legalbrief website
[InfoUpdate
8 of 2010]
Where's
the judgment? : COPE Soweto - 13 August
Preddy Mothopeng appeals to Judge Essa Moosa to deliver ruling. - Politicsweb
website
Court
says Lekota to stay Cope leader, Shilowa to remain Chief Whip
- 19 August
The legal fight as to whether Congress of the People leader
Mosiuoa Lekota has the right to lead the party in Parliament
was finally resolved yesterday. The Cape High Court ruled in
favour of COPE's congress national committee decision to send
Mr Lekota to Parliament to be sworn in as an MP and to replace
Mvume Dandala as party parliamentary leader. - allAfrica
website
I
lied to patients, says distraught woman - 25 August
A witness wept as she gave evidence in the Western Cape High
Court that she unwittingly lied to ill and injured people who
approached her former employers to cure them through stem cell
therapy. Danielle Jibrail, worked for Biomark International - a
company set up by attorney Stephen van Rooyen and his American
wife, Laura Brown. They are wanted in the US to face 51 counts
of fraud in connection with the treatment they offered. She was
testifying in a damages action brought by Noordhoek paraplegic
Justine Asher against ACT, Brown and Van Rooyen after she was
told that the treatment was safe and would help her to walk
again. Only Brown is defending the action. - IOL
website
Keyphrase :
Advanced Cell Therapeutics
Gulf Stream Management Trust
Sean Castle
Sebastian Carlisle
Error
sees rapist's life sentence changed - 9 August
A crucial omission in a charge sheet has led to the Western Cape
High Court's setting aside the two life sentences imposed on a
man convicted of two rapes and substituting them with an
effective 17 years' jail. Raymond Dolphin was found guilty of
two rapes. However, the charge sheet did not specify that the
State would rely on Minimum Sentence legislation in prosecuting
Dolphin. - IOL website
Fraud
accused win plea for investors
- 17 August
The Western Cape High Court has ordered the police and two banks
to unfreeze the bank accounts of two businesses linked to a
Khayelitsha man accused of operating a fraudulent investment
scheme in his neighbourhood. The man, Mzwandile Pato, and his
wife, Nosisa, have been charged with fraud worth R5-million and
appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court in July, where
each was granted bail of R15 000. The two businesses are close
corporations Mthuthulezi Funeral Services and Fola Investments.
- allAfrica website
Teacher
sues education MEC for R400 000 - 18 August
A 40-year-old teacher is suing the Western Cape Education MEC
for R400 000 in damages in the Western Cape High Court, saying
that the education department provided police with false
information when instituting a fraud investigation against her.
The MEC denied the allegations in responding papers. The
department claims that Sizeka Mbebe fraudulently filled in a
form which effectively changed the banking details of the
school, Umyezo Wama Apile Combined School in Grabouw, to that of
her personal bank account. However, Mbebe says that she was
handed the form so that she could supply her personal banking
details to the department for salary purposes. - IOL
website
Dina
: I caused so much hurt - 17 August
Dina Rodrigues has finally broken her silence about her role in
the murder of six-month-old baby Jordan-Leigh Norton and has
"accepted responsibility" for her actions. "I
have accepted responsibility for what I have done and the
families I've hurt. I put them through hell and I must live with
it", Rodrigues told an audience at Pollsmoor Prison on
Monday that included Correctional Services Minister Nosiviwe
Mapisa-Nqakula.Rodrigues must still serve another 22 years
before she becomes eligible for parole but yesterday she pleaded
with Mapisa-Nqakula for "another chance". - IOL
website
See
also : Reopening
Hlophe case not in public interest, says JSC [South Africa]