Worked out?
The finding of a Zambian court holds a salutary lesson for government appointees: ensure the legalities line up before breaking out the champagne A JUDGMENT from Zambia’s court of appeal has left me thinking about the real meaning of independence. The case concerns...
Law society meets with Chief Justice over torture, crackdown in Zimbabwe
Security forces in Zimbabwe are continuing to use torture and deadly force against people protesting against government restrictions and fuel hikes that have made petrol in that country the highest-priced in the world. Alarming pictures of security forces beating...
“Dangerous” for politician to head Seychelles Human Rights Commission – judges
WHEN prominent Seychellois lawyer and political figure, Alexia Amesbury, decided to contest a seat on the country’s human rights commission, she came up against an apparently immovable obstacle: the law disqualifies candidates who hold office in or are employed by...
“Despicable” behaviour outside debating chamber not privileged, judge tells assembly members
Dressed in a pink suit and looking rather bewildered, Nairobi city county Speaker, Beatrice Elachi, is seen on camera watching as protesting assembly members demonstrate in her office. They wanted her to step down and yelled and shouted at her to achieve their aim....
Generous to a fault
The labour court in SA has upheld the dismissal of a pharmacist who gave exorbitant discounts, over-ruling a curious ruling in his favour by the CCMA Read the judgment A RECENT decision by SA's labour court has left me wondering how some pharmacies stay solvent given...
Alarming number of trial errors nullify serious convictions in Tanzania
WHEN half of the criminal appeals heard by a country’s apex court lead to decisions that the trials were a nullity or fatally defective in some way and that conviction and sentence must be set aside, you know there is a problem. This is the situation in Tanzania where...
Give senior lawyer his current tax compliance certificate, high court orders
A PROMINENT senior lawyer in Kenya, Professor Tom Odhiambo Ojienda, has persuaded the high court in Nairobi to order that the country’s tax bosses give him a current tax compliance certificate. This despite the Kenya Revenue Authority's earlier refusal to do so. The...
Death penalty overturned for woman who murdered and dismembered husband
The appropriateness of the death penalty as a punishment for even extremely violent murder has been raised at the Supreme Court in Kampala. Members of Uganda’s apex court were considering the case of a 63-year-old woman who murdered and dismembered her husband. Though...
Villagers’ water pollution case should be heard in UK not Zambia, court hears
A major case on the environmental and human rights of villagers in Zambia was heard in the English courts over two days this week. The appeal concerns the question of where villagers, suing over the pollution of their water via mining action, may bring their dispute....
NUM’s wrong turning
NUM's involvement in a health and safety compliance dispute has been found by the SA labour court to be irresponsible and unreasonable. HOW is an employer to respond when workers effectively hold a mine to ransom? In the case of PMG Mining’s Bishop Mine operations...