Articles

It’s not every day that a court gives helpful advice to unsuccessful litigants on other ways to achieve their goal. But judges of the Seychelles Court of Appeal – the highest judicial forum in that country – have gone out of their way to help someone who was turned...

THE old VW Passat had done 280 000 km and cost R61 450 but it suited the new buyer just fine. Then, after just three days, it broke down. Her disappointment has been the public gain, however, as the dispute has led to a major new consumer protection decision. And...

It’s a busy afternoon, writing columns for the weekend deadline, but I have had to take time out to read an important judgment, delivered by the Supreme Court of Appeal today in the case of sacked SABC journalist, Vuyo Mvoko. The decision makes for very satisfying...

Belief in witchcraft will no longer automatically keep the death penalty at bay in Zambian murder cases, according to a landmark new judgment of that country’s Supreme Court. Five judges of Zambia’s highest court, including the Chief Justice and the deputy Chief...

WHEN the government of Rwanda recently applied to the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for the extradition of five alleged genocidaires, it claimed a “sea change” had taken place in the way Rwanda’s courts operated. Concerns expressed by the UK courts in earlier...

Ever since her appointment as Chief Justice of the Seychelles in 2015, Mathilda Twomey, the first woman to hold this position, has been a target of sexist behaviour and threats by a particular senior colleague on the Bench. But though this judge, Durai Karunakaran,...

A SOUTH AFRICAN advocate and a firm of attorneys could be in serious trouble with their professional bodies after a high court judge said they had acted “unprofessionally or worse” and ordered that a copy of his judgment be given to the relevant bodies to consider...

Just read a decision delivered today from the full bench of the high court in Mthatha concerning Mzoxolo Dyantyi, an accused found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. But the regional magistrate sat alone and did not inform the accused that he was...

WORKERS’ Day, May 1, 2017 and unknown to virtually any South African enjoying the public holiday, something extraordinary was unfolding in Port Elizabeth. Something with far-reaching implications for international human rights and for international trade, a novel...

WHAT might a “captured” South African judiciary and judicial appointment system look like? While chilling stories from leaked emails suggest South Africa is no longer being run by its own president, that right having been bought by the wealthy Gupta family, many...