The Copyright Amendment Bill has been passed by the National Assembly but is still awaiting the signature of the president
South Africa is a terrifyingly violent country, but giving the police licence to kill can only make things worse
With only three candidates shortlisted, the JSC will again not be able to fill a vacancy that arose at the constitutional court in late 2021
The attack by Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on judges as enslaved to a colonial mentally placed the acting head of the judiciary in an impossible position, fraught with politics, legal scholars say
The chief justice we didn’t know we needed protected the independence of the judiciary through dark days but leaves an ambivalent legacy
The stage is set for a high court trial that should provide clarity on sections of the Equality Act.
Following xenophobic comments about foreign nationals last year, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has been accused of hate speech.
On Tuesday the Presidency issued a statement saying the Concourt did not find that President Jacob Zuma broke his oath of office. Experts disagree.
Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos said on Thursday that the Con Court’s Nkandla ruling showed that the president’s breach was a personal one.
The top commentators in South Africa talk about their influence or lack thereof.
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/ 25 November 2011
Government announced that it is going to assess the transformation of the judiciary, including the judgments of the Constitutional Court.
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/ 24 November 2011
The claim that international precedent does not show a need for a public interest clause in the secrecy Bill has been challenged by legal experts.
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/ 21 November 2011
News that Mac Maharaj’s attorneys laid charges against the <i>M&G</i> and two of its journalists comes as a surprise, writes <b>Pierre de Vos</b>.
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/ 13 September 2011
The ANC will appeal the decision to ban the singing of <em>Dubhula I’bunu</em> or "shoot the boer" in a ruling slammed by advocates of free speech.
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/ 9 September 2011
Does anyone remember a time when lawyers occupied an affectionate place in the heart of society, rather than their more recent bleak outhouse?
Many of SA’s elite legal fraternity gathered at the Constitutional Court to pay their respects to the outgoing chief justice.
In recent years the Ministerial Handbook has been held up as putting an official stamp on the spending habits of ministers.
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/ 1 December 2009
The president’s office has taken time to slap down a constitutional law professor who called President Jacob Zuma ‘a gangster’.
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/ 26 November 2009
Menzi Simelane’s appointment as head of the NPA shows an ”utter disregard for the Constitution and the law”, said expert Pierre de Vos.
An uproar is brewing in legal and civil society circles who accuse the department of justice of challenging the supremacy of the Constitution.
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/ 12 September 2008
ANC president Jacob Zuma said on Friday that the court ruling in his favour was a victory for the justice system but had left him a ”wounded warrior”.
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/ 17 February 2008
Pity the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). Fifteen years ago this court — then led by the chief justice — was the highest court of appeal in South Africa. The prestige and standing of the judges serving on this court were unchallenged among the majority of influential South African lawyers and judges, and academics pored over their decisions and wrote learned articles about their decisions.