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

4 September 2009

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

InfoUpdate 19 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

South Gauteng High Court (previously Witwatersrand Local Division) - http://www.saflii.org.za/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/  ; Court rolls at http://www.saflii.org/blog/?page_id=173

28 August 2009
2009/22928 [2009] ZAGPJHC 45
Verimark Holdings Limited v Brait Specialised Trustees (Pty) Limited NO and Others

21 August 2009
25846/09 [2009] ZAGPJHC 40
Amrich 159 Property Holding CC v Van Wesemb Eeck

21 August 2009
08/31859 [2009] ZAGPJHC 39
KNS Construction (Pty) Limited v Genesis on Fairmount and Another

21 August 2009
03/21585 [2009] ZAGPJHC 38
Inviticus Holdings (Pty) Ltd (formerly Meridian Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd) and Others v Advtech Limited and Others (Application for Leave to Appeal)

20 August 2009
637/2009 ; 638/09 ; 09/8830 ; 09/8941 [2009] ZAGPJHC 41
Firstrand Bank Limited v Maleke ; Firstrand Bank Limited v Motingoe and Another ; Peoples Mortgage Ltd v Mofokeng and Another ; Firstrand Bank Limited v Mudlaudzi

18 August 2009
35697/08 [2009] ZAGPJHC 44
Rudolph and Another v National Director of Public Prosecutions and Another

11 August 2009
31278/07 [2009] ZAGPJHC 35
Gover v Road Accident Fund

7 August 2009
A5044/08 [2009] ZAGPJHC 36
Walljee and Another v Botto and Another

3 August 2009
A3024/05 [2009] ZAGPJHC 37
Byrne v Masters Squash Promoters CC and Another

31 July 2009
08/32943 [2009] ZAGPJHC 33
Bhugwan v JSE Limited

Jo'burg school girl killers get life - 17 August
Three men who were recently convicted of killing 12-year-old Emily Williams in 2008 have been sentenced to life in prison. Williams was killed after she was hit by a stray bullet during in a shootout between robbers and security guards in Fairland in February 2008. - Eye Witness News website

S African government welcomes High Court decision on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system launch - 31 August
Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has welcomed the decision of the High Court in Pretoria which ruled yesterday, 28 August 2009 against an urgent application by the taxi industry to prevent the launch of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. - eGov Monitor website

Cosatu, Sanco condemn taxi strike over BRT system - 24 August
Heavyweight union federation Cosatu and a host of civic organisations like Sanco have condemned next week's planned taxi strike in protest against the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Cosatu urged the government "to ensure that all the law enforcement agencies act swiftly to avoid any lawbreaking activities" ahead of next Tuesday’s countrywide strike action. - Weekend Post website

Jhb council signs BRT operating contract - 28 August
While the South African National Taxi Council was still in court to halt Sunday's start of Johannesburg's bus rapid transit (BRT) system, the city council on Friday signed an interim operational contract with a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company to operate the public transport system while negotiations with affected taxi operators were being finalised. Phase 1A of the BRT system would displace 575 taxis. The SPV is 100% owned by a trust, the beneficiaries of which are the taxi operators affected by phase 1A of the BRT system. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Ndebele welcomes BRT victory - 29 August
Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele was pleased that taxi operators failed to stop the launch of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Johannesburg, he said in a statement on Saturday. "The court decision means that we, as government, are now able to move a step closer towards providing safe, efficient and affordable public transport to the citizens of South Africa," he said. - News24 website

BRT system under pressure as taxis strike - 31 August
The City of Johannesburg said on Monday that it would work round the clock to iron out operational and capacity challenges following the official launch of the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on Sunday. This followed reports that many taxis were not operating, despite the industry’s decision not to go-ahead with its earlier planned strike in protest against the introduction of the BRT system. - Creamer Media's Engineering News website

Johannesburg's new bus route attacked by taxi gunmen - 2 September
Two public buses, which started running on a route between Soweto and Johannesburg on Aug. 30, were shot at by men in a minibus taxi yesterday, injuring two passengers, South African police said. Both victims, one of whom was a policeman, are in a stable condition following the shooting that took place at about 8 pm local time. - Bloomberg website

See also :
2010 plans upset South Africa's taxis - 2 September
As South Africa rolls out new buses in Johannesburg ahead of the 2010 football World Cup, thousands of minibus taxi-drivers in Cape Town want to put the brakes on a similar plan to revamp the coastal city's transport system. - BBC News website

Keyphrase :
2010 FIFA World Cup

Harmse not remorseful : State - 1 September
Morne Harmse has not shown any remorse for killing a fellow student with a sword, the High Court in Johannesburg heard during sentencing procedures on Tuesday. "The guilty party is certainly a first time offender, but he shows absolutely no remorse over his gruesome deeds," argued prosecutor Gerrit Roberts. Harmse carried out the attack, in which he killed 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius and wounded three others, at the Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, last August. - News24 website

Sword killer 'tried' witchcraft  expert - 1 September
Sword killer Morne Harmse may not have been a practising satanist, but he was dabbling in the occult. This was according to satanism expert Dr Kobus Jonker, who testified this morning in the pre-sentencing hearing of the teenager who went on the rampage with a ninja sword at his school last year, killing a fellow pupil. - IOL website

Court views swords, masks in teen's trial - 1 September
Court officials on Tuesday laid various swords and masks on a table just before the High Court in Johannesburg started sentencing a Krugersdorp teenager convicted of hacking another to death. The masks appeared crudely home-made with one featuring a clown face with a red satanist star, while another had thick rope resembling sparse hair strands twirling out of an orange, crumpled paper face. Another had an elongated nose made out of a tin can. Four swords of various lengths were also laid out on a table in the court room. - IOL website

Devil 'didn't make him do it' - 2 September
Morne Harmse, 19, was not under the influence of the devil when he took a ninja sword to school and slashed the throat of a fellow pupil. Yesterday, an occult specialist and former head of the police's disbanded occult-related crimes unit, Dr Kobus Jonker, testified that although Harmse had been experimenting with Satanism and witchcraft, his involvement in such practices was superficial. - IOL website

Samurai sword killer case a difficult one : judge - 2 September
The South Gauteng High Court judge in Morne Harmse’s murder trial has been asked to consider his age, immaturity and his history of family violence when handing down sentencing next Thursday. - Eye Witness News website

Rapists smile as woman breaks down - 1 September
Some of the men found guilty of gang-raping a Tembisa woman smiled as the victim's sister wept in the witness stand of the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday. The woman, who cannot be named to protect her sister's identity, described the difficulties the family had faced since the 2005 crime. - IOL website

Upbringing blamed for gang rape - 2 September
The defence lawyers of six of the seven men found guilty of the gang rape of a woman in Tembisa in 2005 claimed on Wednesday that disadvantaged personal circumstances were a factor in their behaviour. The representatives told judge Lucy Mailula in the High Court in Johannesburg that factors including absent fathers, both parents in one case, and the township the accused were brought up in, had an influence on their criminal behaviour. - IOL website

Tembisa gang rapists sentenced - 14 September
The South Gauteng High Court handed down sentences of between 17 and 20 years on Friday after finding seven men guilty of raping a 26-year-old Tembisa woman in 2005. - News24 website

Selebi Case

Interpol criticises Selebi trial delay - 2 September
Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble criticised the slow prosecution of corruption accused former South African police chief Jackie Selebi. - The Times website

Tannenbaum Case (Ponzi Scheme)

Tannenbaum : Rees to blame - 15 August
Barry Tannenbaum, the man accused of running South Africa’s biggest investment scam, said he "stands by" his accusation that lawyer Dean Rees was his accomplice in an audacious R250-million fraud against Qatari property company Barwa. Tannenbaum has been accused of being the brains behind a R3-billion Ponzi scheme that suckered Barwa and wealthy South Africans, including ex-JSE chair Norman Lowenthal and Bond Exchange boss Tom Lawless. - The Times website 

Tannenbaum assets placed into final sequestration  - 19 August
The personal estate in South Africa of Barry Tannenbaum, who operated the Ponzi-type scheme that fleeced millions from investors, has been placed in final sequestration. Judge Martin Brassey granted the order in the South Gauteng High Court yesterday despite a last-ditch attempt by Tannenbaum's lawyers to get the provisional order extended. - Business Report website

Tannenbaum denies moving S African, Australian funds - 19 August
Barry Tannenbaum, the money manager at the center of a Ponzi scheme investigation, said he hasn’t moved assets out of South Africa and Australia, contradicting a South African government task force that said he had. The task force and Tannebaum’s investors are searching for money after a court yesterday froze his assets in South Africa. Lawyers said they will try to do the same in Australia. - Bloomberg website

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