Lies, damn lies, and advocates’ admission forms
‘MR X’ wants to become an advocate. But he has a secret: some years ago he abducted his young daughter and they spent five years wondering around Europe on false documents with both Interpol and the South African police looking for them. Happily for all concerned the...
Aesop updated: lawyer loses all
REMEMBER the fable about finding a great treasure of gold and jewels? You could help yourself, but only take as much as you could carry. Drop anything and it would all disappear; you’d be left with nothing at all. Strangely enough a lawyer out there is living proof of...
Alzheimer’s disease fuels family feud
LIKE an endless family drama stretched over decades and generations, the bitter Vermeulen feud has dominated the lives of its members. Now the highest court has ruled: the family matriarch, the ‘Iron Lady of Outjo’, was not legally capable when she made a contentious...
Arrest in Smithfield murder case
Police have arrested a man in connection with the killing last weekend of respected Smithfield community leader, Ounooi Badenhorst, 77. She was shot in her home where she lived alone after the death of her husband Jurie last year. Police said they had acted on a...
Major court ruling clears the way for impeachment steps against top judge
IN a major decision delivered today the appeal court of Lesotho has removed the last obstacle in the way of impeachment hearings against a senior judge. The president of the court of appeal in Lesotho, Michael Ramodibedi, who is also the chief justice of Swaziland,...
Why Judge Michael Ramodibedi faces impeachment I
MOVE over Judge President John Hlophe; you’ve met your match. You probably thought there could be nothing like Hlophe again in your lifetime: a senior judge under investigation, impeachment a possibility, a series of distasteful court cases, the judge sounding off in...
Why Judge Michael Ramodibedi faces impeachment II
WHILE South Africans obsess over the Oscar Pistorius trial, a completely different kind of court case is riveting the politically savvy in neighbouring Swaziland and Lesotho. Their leading judge – Michael Ramodibedi is president of the appeal court in Lesotho and...
Much loved local community leader murdered
No-one could believe Monday’s news: police had found Ounooi Badenhorst, 77, murdered in her home in Smithfield. She had been a strong community leader who had headed the local residents’ association and she was much respected in the whole community. At lunchtime today...
Dear judge – why this highbrow language?
THE name of the case whetted my appetite: ‘Tasty Treats’. And judgment in this matter had been given by a relatively new judge of the Swaziland Supreme Court, Esther Ota. A good chance of finding some delicious morsel of jurisprudence I hoped, something that offered a...
Loan shark locust, fined R1-million, ignores order to shut down
WE had no warning when the locusts came: just a dark dust cloud that turned out not to be dust, and a rustling noise that grew louder and louder. They covered everything, the street and my garden, within seconds. The hair on your arms stands erect with horror as you...