A Somali community in Johannesburg on Thursday accused police of firing live ammunition at its members as more xenophobic attacks were reported in Gauteng and former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal questioned claims of ‘third force’ involvement in the attacks.
Having a judge head the politically loaded Erasmus commission undermined the principle of separation of powers, lawyers for the City of Cape Town and the Democratic Alliance argued on Thursday. The city and the party have asked the court to quash the commission to probe the legality of the city’s spying on renegade councillor Badih Chaaban.
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Lawyers for African National Congress president Jacob Zuma will meet prosecutors on Thursday to decide whether his corruption case should begin on August 4, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. ”It is only after the meeting today that we’ll know if the date we have proposed is confirmed,” NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said.
The most striking image of Spain’s drought, that has forced Barcelona to ship in water, has been that of the underwater church which emerged from a drying dam. For most of the past four decades, all that has been visible of the village of Sant Roma has been the belltower of its stone church, peeping above the water beside forested hills from a valley flooded in the 1960s to provide water for the Catalonia region.
Our Constitution includes a range of socio-economic rights. The challenge to the judiciary was to achieve a balance between enforcement of these rights and deferring to the policy choices of a democratically elected government. The judiciary has precious little precedent to assist it in protecting entrenched rights without so burdening the state with judicially inserted requirements that the latter cannot properly perform its functions.
The Constitutional Court has reserved judgement on a ban prohibiting journalists from reporting on divorce cases, a media report said on Friday. Earlier this year, the Cape High Court ruled that section 12 of the Divorce Act was unconstitutional after media group Johncom brought an application challenging it.
If there was ever a period that so ably demonstrated the febrile nature of politics it has been the past week or two. As Jacob Zuma strode into Downing Street after having met with the British prime minister, looking surprisingly at ease in the media glare, Thabo Mbeki was quietly meeting King Mswati III which, with all due respect to the Swazi monarch, pretty much sums up the state of play: Zuma on the ascendant, Mbeki on the slide.
The existence of the Scorpions is ”as valid today as it was at conception”, says the Khampepe report released on Monday. ”Despite indications that crime levels are dropping, it is my considered view that organised crime still presents a threat that needs to be addressed through an effective comprehensive strategy,” states the report.
Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille on Monday vowed to take her fight against the Erasmus commission to the Constitutional Court. The commission was set up by Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool in December 2007 to investigate the City of Cape Town’s probe into controversial councillor Badih Chaaban.
The issue of land claims and homelessness continues to be one of the most pressing of our social problems. Unsurprisingly, the courts have been drawn into the intricacies of this problem, particularly when it comes to squatters and their removal.
The draft Expropriation Bill will undermine property rights and could scare off foreign investors, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Thursday. The proposed Bill, tabled on Wednesday, also goes against United Nations guidelines on eliminating racial discrimination, said party leader Pieter Mulder in a statement.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma has failed to inspire confidence during his first few months at the party’s helm, says University of South Africa rector Barney Pityana. ”We now enter a new era. It is a time shrouded in anxiety and uncertainty with the looming presidency of Jacob Zuma and a new assertive leadership of the ANC,” he said on Monday.
Turkey’s top court decided on Monday to put the Islamist-rooted ruling party on trial for alleged anti-secular activity, in a case that could threaten national stability and Ankara’s bid to join the European Union. The judges of the Constitutional Court agreed to accept the indictment against the Justice and Development Party filed by the country’s top prosecutor.
The agony of the recorded-music industry as it fights the ”world of free” on the internet may have become a little more painful in Germany this month, with a court ruling that seems to restrict surveillance of web users. The industry in Western Europe’s most populous nation says it employs 98 sleuths working 24 hours a day.
Racism, discrimination and the cultural divide were causes for concern in South Africa, political parties and organisations said on Human Rights Day. Western Cape acting premier Leonard Ramatlakane said a number of projects would be implemented to combat racial discrimination in the province.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against him came to an end on Wednesday when the Constitutional Court reserved judgement. On Thursday, Zuma stayed away from the court building.
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The documents the state is seeking to obtain from Mauritius may never be used against African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday. State advocate Wim Trengove said evidence gathered ”does not automatically become evidence before the court”.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s attempt to have search-and-seizure raids as well as a letter requesting documents from Mauritius ruled invalid was set to enter a third day at the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on Thursday.
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The state’s attempts to obtain documents from Mauritius infringed African National Congress president Jacob Zuma’s right to a fair trial, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday. Zuma’s advocate said that allowing the documents from Mauritius to be ”imported” would ”negate” the Zuma legal team’s ability to challenge the documents in court.
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A state lawyer accused African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma in court on Wednesday of trying to delay justice through his attempt to block the use of seized documents at his upcoming corruption trial. The trial, due to start in August, could ruin Zuma’s hopes of succeeding President Thabo Mbeki in 2009.
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Warrants issued to allow the Scorpions to conduct search-and-seizure raids on the properties of African National Congress president Jacob Zuma, his attorney and French arms manufacturer Thint were specific, the Constitutional Court heard on Wednesday.
"By the very fact that they are part of the South African society, journalists are bound by what is in the Constitution. Their responsibility is to take the vision in the Constitution and hold it up and say: Are we living up to that vision?" The <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s ombud, Franz Krüger, interviews press ombudsman Joe Thloloe.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma sat quietly in the front row of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, listening to his legal team challenge the validity of the warrants used to seize documents that could be used against him in his forthcoming corruption trial.
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There is no statute determining exactly what provisions should be in a search warrant, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday as African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thint began a last-ditch bid to prevent key documents from being used against them.
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African National Congress president Jacob Zuma arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday amid a heavy security presence and the sound of camera shutters as photographers attempted to shoot pictures. A heavy police presence was visible around the court buildings while journalists packed the press gallery trying to get a view of Zuma.
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The government has suspended further payments of Jacob Zuma’s legal costs over his impending corruption trial, it was reported on Monday. The Star quoted the head of the state attorney’s office as saying that the government would not pay future legal costs until Zuma provides a detailed account of how he had spent money previously received from the state.
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The Mauritian Attorney General (AG) has asked for more time to prepare his documentation in Jacob Zuma’s court battle, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday. Rama Valayden wants to counter Zuma’s attempt to prevent Mauritius from handing documentation over to the National Prosecuting Authority.
A project to remove the remnants of apartheid laws from statute books was launched by the South African Law Commission on Friday. It hoped to review about 2 800 statutes that had been placed on the law books since 1910 within the next 18 months, modernising and simplifying the statute book.
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African National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma asserted, in an interview published on Friday, that power in South Africa rests with the ruling party, not with his rival, President Thabo Mbeki. ”Power lies in the ANC,” Zuma — who ousted Mbeki in a bitter ANC leadership contest three months ago — told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper.
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As the National Prosecuting Authority was revealing in papers submitted to the Constitutional Court how African National Congress president Jacob Zuma allegedly failed to declare his income to the taxman, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) on Friday was keeping mum.
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/ 29 February 2008
The issue of the Khutsong demarcation was not on the agenda of an African National Congress delegation visiting Carletonville, a media report said on Saturday. The eight-member team from the party’s national executive committee met other ANC members and community members behind closed doors in the troubled North West area.
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/ 26 February 2008
It was not cruel to make Schabir Shaik forfeit more than R30-million in shares after ”brashly using the prize” of Jacob Zuma to secure a business deal with an arms company, the Constitutional Court heard on Tuesday. Advocate Wim Trengove argued this during Shaik’s court application to have his assets returned.