Professional Update
A
monthly newsletter for KZN Attorneys from the Kwazulu-Natal Law Society

10 July 2009

This professional service draws attention to current and important items of news
 and members are directed to the hosts' websites

InfoUpdate 14 of 2009
Recent Judgments

Electronic copies of this information may be obtained from our librarians at help@lawlibrary.co.za or click on the underlined hyperlink where relevant

North Gauteng High Court (previously Transvaal Provincial Division) - http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/ ; Court rolls at http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=79

3 July 2009
25494/2008 [2009] ZAGPPHC 96
Du Plessis en Andere v BTA Konstruksie en Andere

3 July 2009
36025/09 [2009] ZAGPPHC 95
Voster v Voster and Others

3 July 2009
57639/2007 [2009] ZAGPPHC 94
Inyanga Trading 444 (Pty) Ltd v R&T Ontwikkelaars (Pty) Ltd

26 June 2009
33656/2009 [2009] ZAGPPHC 93
South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association v Minister of Safety and Security

Going off half-cock : a better model for gun management - 6 July
Last week the Pretoria High Court issued a ruling effectively suspending several provisions of the
Firearms Control Act of 2000. The greatest problem facing the Act is that it does not appear to work as the crime prevention mechanism it was originally billed as. No side of the South African gun debate disputes that firearms in the wrong hands are a serious threat. The police have never kept data that allows for the accurate tracking of what kinds (semi-automatic handgun, revolver, bolt-action rifle, double-barrel shotgun, etc) and status (licensed, stolen, ex-police/military, liberation movement) of firearms are used in crimes in South Africa. Nor has any data been maintained on the use of firearms in self defence. Therefore only macro-crime trends can be assessed. South Africa's murder rate came down from 66 per 100 000 in 1994 to 40 per 100 000 people when the Act was implemented in 2004/05. - Dispatch Online website

Death row prisoner denied freedom - 4 July
A week after three inmates were told they were eligible for parole, five former death row inmates now serving life sentences had their applications turned down in Pretoria's Palace of Justice. Yesterday Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann cited the full bench judgment in an application by the killer of Communist Party leader Chris Hani, Clive Derby-Lewis, when he dismissed the applications by Paul van Vuren, Carel Meiring, Pieter van der Merwe, Rudolph Strydom and G J R Botha. The five questioned the constitutionality of section 136 of the
Correctional Services Act. - IOL website

See also :
North Gauteng High Court
29 April 2009
15320/09 [2009] ZAGPPHC 35
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others

See also : South Africa.  Freedom Under Law applies to join Pikoli case

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society