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The member states of the African Union are the independent countries within the African continent that collectively work towards the union's goals of promoting unity, economic development, and peace.

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Explore African national legislation and court judgments from Legal Information Institutes across Africa.

EswatiniLII
Eswatini
EswatiniLII
eswatinilii.org
GhaLII
Ghana
GhaLII
ghalii.org
Kenya Law
Kenya
Kenya Law
kenyalaw.org
LesothoLII
Lesotho
LesothoLII
lesotholii.org
MalawiLII
Malawi
MalawiLII
malawilii.org
NamibLII
Namibia
NamibLII
namiblii.org
SierraLII
Sierra Leone
SierraLII
sierralii.org
SeyLII
Seychelles
SeyLII
seylii.org
LawLibrary
South Africa
LawLibrary
lawlibrary.org.za
TanzLII
Tanzania
TanzLII
tanzlii.org
ULII
Uganda
ULII
ulii.org
ZambiaLII
Zambia
ZambiaLII
zambialii.org
ZanzibarLII
Zanzibar
ZanzibarLII
zanzibarlii.org
ZimLII
Zimbabwe
ZimLII
zimlii.org

Latest Commentary

Zambia’s constitutional court strongly backs judicial independence

Zambia’s constitutional court has found parliament in breach of the constitution by not passing legislation to ensure the full financial independence of the judiciary and that it is adequately funded. In a decision strongly underlining the principle of judicial independence, the court has ordered that until these laws have been passed and put into effect, the minister for finance should report to parliament every six months on what has been done to ensure financial independence of the judiciary. Ironically, the challenge was brought by Zambian counsel, John Sangwa. In March 2020, the chief court registrar informed all the country’s judges and magistrates that Sangwa was no longer allowed to appear in court because of a ‘malpractice complaint’ filed against him by the lawyers’ association of Zambia. This ‘complaint’ followed a ‘denunciation’ of Sangwa by several judges after Sangwa was critical of certain new judicial appointments. He had also criticised the government when the former president, Edgar Lungu, announced he would stand again for the presidency, even though, in Sangwa’s view, he was ineligible.

New deal for awaiting trial prisoners in Namibia

Namibia’s highest court has delivered a judgment that could see a new era for awaiting trial prisoners in that country. Most fundamentally, it has struck down, as unconstitutional, the definition of the word ‘offender’ which had previously included awaiting trial prisoners. The court said that to call people ‘offenders’ when they hadn’t been convicted, struck at the heart of the constitutionally guaranteed presumption of innocence, because it suggested they had already been found guilty. The court also held certain other practices in relation to awaiting trial prisoners were unconstitutional.

Church obtained land fraudulently, must give it back, with damages, court finds

A high-profile Ugandan church and one of its senior pastors have been found to have obtained land by fraud. The high court in Kampala, which made that finding, has ordered that the church must quit the land that was fraudulently obtained, while the plots must be returned and the official title and registration deeds changed to reflect that order. In addition, the church and the pastor must pay a damages bill of UGX50m plus interest and legal costs.

Time to rethink Zambia’s law on ‘insulting language’?

An outspoken Zambian magistrate has criticised the country’s law against the use of insulting language, saying some people saw mere criticism as insults, and that the law ‘when misapplied’ could result in an authoritarian and controlling society. It could cause ‘contemporary intolerance’ and ‘when not well prosecuted’, represented ‘an intense desire to gag uncomfortable voices of dissent’. He was giving judgment in a case where the accused was charged with naming someone as a witch and with using insulting language. The magistrate said it was the actions taken in consequence of a belief in witchcraft that are a problem, rather than the belief itself – but that this belief ‘has been deeply entrenched in the Zambian psyche’. He said it increasingly seemed that ‘old age is synonymous with being a witch in many communities in Zambia’, and that many elderly men and women were forced to leave their ancestral villages because of being labelled witches.

Bank not liable for loss after clerk, mandated to operate a client’s accounts, steals money

Should banks allow staff to be given mandates so that they may operate the accounts of customers? It’s a question that has to be asked in the wake of a new decision by Namibia’s supreme court. The apex court had to consider the bank’s liability for funds misappropriated by a clerk who had been given a mandate by a customer to operate the customer’s accounts.

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