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

12 June 2009

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

     

InfoUpdate
12 of 2009

Draft Issue

Visit past issues of InfoUpdate

News
Portions of the eThekwini Municipality's Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy, adopted by Council, relate to Revenue Clearance Certificates. eThekwini Municipality - 1 May 2009
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Black Lawyers Association
MVA seminar
Municipal law seminar

Recent Journal Articles
Constitutional Court Review

T
ydskrif vir die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg - an article discusses the state's failure to comply with its constitutional duties and its impact on democracy

Recent Judgments
Competition Commission, Tribunal and Appeal Court
- Xstrata / Anglo American 
Constitutional Court
-
employer's appeal against an order of 10 months compensation awarded to a constructively dismissed employee ; Joe Slovo squatter camp decision ; outcome of farmer's struggle to get diplomatic protection while the Zimbabwe government seized his land ; school's language policy up for discussion again
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa -
rights of employees on termination of employment
Commercial Crimes Courts
- bogus attorney leaves accountant in debt
Electoral Court - IEC officer found guilty of electoral fraud

Equality Courts
Labour Courts - SABC strike ; NUMSA v General Motors ; David Bullard goes to court
Labour Appeal Court - "incorrect to base the award on the remuneration of the employee"
Eastern Cape High Court : Bisho
Eastern Cape High Court : Grahamstown
Eastern Cape High Court : Mthatha
Eastern Cape High Court : Port Elizabeth
Free State High Court - 'canned lion' hunting banned.
KwaZulu-Natal High Court : Durban
- Early Morning Market traders go to court ; four members of the KwaZulu-Natal Conservation Board have been reinstated
KwaZulu-Natal High Court : Pietermaritzburg
- Shembe leadership battle ; Sani Pass accident victim receives payment award ; Jabulani Mabaso stripped of expensive properties and luxury cars ; sign language as an official Matric subject ; sale of the old Natal Command military base in Durban
North Gauteng High Court -
temporary reprieve for more than one million South African firearm owners who have not yet re-applied for their licences ; Dirk Prinsloo has been arrested in Belarus
North-West High Court : Mafikeng - Law Society of the Northern Provinces and Another v Law Society of Bophuthatswana
Northern Cape High Court - property to be seized from the Northern Cape police to pay for unlawful arrest
South Gauteng High Court
-
victory for gang-rape survivor Buyisiwe ; Glen Agliotti is being sued for R29 million by Kebble's former companies ; Tannenbaum case
Western Cape High Court - implementation of the new Direct Payment System by the Road Accident Fund
Magistrates Courts - Travelgate ; Parktown Boys' High assault case ; Judge Motata ; Lotter Case ; Confed Cup break-in to Brazilian team's hotel accused found guilty and sentenced
Regional Courts - R Kelly scam ; alleged Yengeni arrest cover-up

South Africa. Government Information
Speeches : Budget Vote ; State of KwaZulu-Natal Address ; response to State of the Nation Address
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Legislation
Broadcasting Act ; Companies Act ; Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Draft Bill ; Draft Constitutional Eighteenth Amendment Bill of 2009 and State Liability Bill ; Second Hand Goods Act. Also includes links to legislation now on the Polity website.
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Legal Profession
Jeff Radebe intends introducing the Legal Practice Bill to Parliament this year ; the transformation of the legal profession moves ahead in many countries ; awarding of legal aid contracts in the United Kingdom is a contentious issue.
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South Africa
2010 developments ; environmental courts to be reinstated ; increased regulation likely in a number of industries ; new health plan ; events surrounding the Judicial Service Commission, judicial appointments, Minister Radebe, Judge Hlophe, and transformation of the judiciary ; taxi drivers' minimum wages ; doctors' strike ; retrenchment and unemployment issues ; electricity tariff ; municipal management and procedure ; recent comments by Trevor Manuel ; future of the provinces ;
feasibility of the establishment of an insurance policy to cater for all rail commuters
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Africa
A prominent Swazi human rights lawyer has been arrested ; eighteen Zimbabweans face arrest in South Africa after election violence in their homeland ; calls for a return to the Zimbabwean dollar ; elephants in Zimbabwe could be affected by noisy helicopter flights to Victoria Falls.
Read more

Asia
A Chinese firm's bid to buy Hummer could be halted by Chinese environmental concerns.
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Australasia
Australia introduces parallel civil and criminal sanctions on cartel conduct ; the case for death with dignity arises again.
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Europe
A terrified financial advisor has been held to ransom by a group of pensioners in Germany ; Spanish parliament discusses a change to the law that would reduce the international jurisdiction of their judges ; glacial activity leads to the re-drawing of the border between Italy and Switzerland ; a soccer player seeks 'moral compensation' for discriminatory remarks ; a Belgian teenager sues after waking up to find half her face covered in tattoos.
Read more

Middle East
An
annulment of the election in Iran has been ruled out ; and a South African woman who was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for sleeping with her married boss has lost her appeal.
Read more

United Kingdom
For the first time in 400 years a criminal trial will go ahead with no jury because of the danger to members of any jury being targeted ;
a leading Jewish state school broke race laws by refusing to admit a boy whose mother had converted to the religion ; a wealthy property agent does not have to share his assets with his South African "wife" because they were never truly married, despite holding a ceremony ; five elderly Kenyans will sue the British Government for a lost decade of alleged torture, suppression and humiliation ; the Ministry of Defence is being sued by four families of servicemen killed in Snatch Land Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan and will also be paying damages to servicemen who suffered injuries from the cold ; the Iraq War inquiry will no longer be held in secret.
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United States and Canada
The US Supreme Court rejects school strip searches ; Justice Edwin Cameron speaks out against criminally prosecuting people who fail to disclose their HIV status ; t
he Supreme Court of Canada is to hear a case involving a prominent attorney who was arrested for "possession of a pie with unlawful intent" ; an attorney well-known for taking on high-profile human rights cases has been disbarred ; Exxon Mobil Corp has been ordered to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska ; the company that signed Michael Jackson up for a forthcoming concert tour faces financial liability.
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International
South Africa and Rwanda call for an African court ; international focus on human trafficking ; the importance of proportionality as a test to limits on human rights ; Formula One's anticipated breakaway and the law.
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Miscellaneous E-Things
Bloggers' anonymity can no longer be guaranteed.
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Vacancies
There are vacancies for a senior Litigator, a recently-admitted Attorney and Candidate Attorneys ; openings for Candidate Attorneys and a member of support-staff specialising in Estates and/or Conveyancing are sought.

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This Day in History
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Last Thought
"I find it difficult to feel responsible for the suffering of others. That's why I find war so hard to bear. It's the same with animals : I feel the less harm I do, the lighter my heart. I love a light heart. And when I know I'm causing suffering, I feel the heaviness of it. It's a physical pain. So it's self-interest that I don't want to cause harm"
Alice Walker, author (b. 1944)
Source :
Wordsmith newsletter

Professional Update : a monthly newsletter for KZN Attorneys from the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society

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