Articles - 2019

‘Remarkable African jurist, judge and scholar’ – Jifa faculty member lauded
‘Remarkable African jurist, judge and scholar’ – Jifa faculty member lauded

When the Judicial Institute for Africa (Jifa) schedules training for African judges, one of the most important preparatory issues is who to invite as faculty. Then follows an anxious time of discussion to ensure that the invited jurist will be available and willing to assist. Among those who regularly offers enthusiastic help and expertise is Justice Oagile ‘Key’ Dingake, originally from Botswana’s high court but now enjoying an international judicial career. Justice Dingake's remarkable writing, teaching and judicial life thus far – he is in his mid-50s - has been the centre of a new media profile that we are delighted to share with you.

Citing outdated colonial attitudes, Zambia's Con Court dumps laws on chiefs
Citing outdated colonial attitudes, Zambia's Con Court dumps laws on chiefs

Contemporary Zambian laws allowing the President to regulate traditional chiefly appointments have been declared unconstitutional. The laws, based on colonial-era ordinances, were tested when a prominent traditional leader disputed the President’s power to legitimise a chief’s appointment through ‘recognition’. The court found that these presidential powers infringed the amended constitution saying ‘no law’ could allow anyone the right to ‘recognise or withdraw the recognition of a chief’. Given the promises of the constitution and its supremacy over all other law, provisions of the Chiefs Act allowing the President a say in the choosing of chiefs and other traditional leaders were unconstitutional and were to be ‘expunged’ from the statute books.

Regional court overturns Sierra Leone ban on pregnant girls attending school, writing exams
Regional court overturns Sierra Leone ban on pregnant girls attending school, writing exams

For years organisations and individuals have urged the government of Sierra Leone to re-think its 2015 ban on pregnant girls attending mainstream schools and writing exams. But they had no success. Eventually some of these organisations approached the Court of Justice of the regional Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), arguing that important rights of such girls were violated by the bar on attending school. Today, the court noted its decision: the ban was discriminatory and had to be overturned, said the judges.

Top judge given human rights award in Zambia
Top judge given human rights award in Zambia

Zambian Supreme Court Judge, Mumba Malila, has been honoured for his human rights work. Earlier this week, Justice Malila was the 2019 recipient of the Zambian Human Rights Commission Award, given in recognition of his contribution to the field of human rights both in Zambia and, more broadly, across Africa.

Judiciary runs out of words for 'barbaric' gender violence
Judiciary runs out of words for 'barbaric' gender violence

As the international community marks its annual 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence, judges are running out of words to describe the horrific cases of femicide that regularly come before them for trial. A case in point was recently heard by Namibia's high court and concerns the butchery of a woman by the man with whom she had been in a romantic relationship. From the remarks by the judge in this case, it seems the courts are 'exhausted' by the horror they see and struggle to find the right words for the 'barbarism' involved in the cases before them.

How judges can help court reporters - plea from 2019 Judicial Dialogue
How judges can help court reporters - plea from 2019 Judicial Dialogue

Unesco’s invitation to speak at an event associated with the Judicial Dialogue in Uganda last month included a request for practical ways in which the judiciary could ‘make life easier’ for members of the media who write about the courts. Here are some of the suggestions put to senior judges, and that made for interesting discussion.

Former Rwandan Chief Justice Jean Mutsinzi RIP
Former Rwandan Chief Justice Jean Mutsinzi RIP

Rwanada’s first post-genocide Chief Justice, Jean Mutsinzi, died last week after a short illness. He was 81. Justice Mutsinzi served as Chief Justice in Rwanda between 1995 and 1999, and was later a member of both the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, including a two-year term as president of this court.

Zim judge gives stunning human rights decision in transgender case

A member of Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court has just delivered a landmark decision in a case heard while he was still a member of the high court in Bulawayo. It concerns a transgender Zimbabwean subjected to appalling infringements of her constitutional rights at the hands of the police and a high profile member of the ruling ZANU-PF's Youth League. Although she has now been awarded damages by the court, she has already left the country after claiming asylum in the USA on the grounds of Zimbabwe’s shocking treatment of LGBTI people.

Recusal, impartiality feature at conference of Southern African Chief Justices
Recusal, impartiality feature at conference of Southern African Chief Justices

Recusal has increasingly often emerged as an issue sparking controversy in decisions from various regional jurisdictions. So it was appropriate that it became one of the main problems for debate during this year’s conference of the Southern African Chief Justices (SACJ), held in Seychelles. At the AGM of SACJ that followed, Tanzania was chosen as the venue for the 2020 conference.

Cannabis: Growing High on our List of Priorities
Cannabis: Growing High on our List of Priorities

A lot of attention has been given to the changes in the South African legislative framework in so far as it relates to Cannabis. Of extreme importance is an understanding of these changes and being able to differentiate between cultivation for private use and the sale of CBD products on the open market.

Access to law includes access to unreported cases as well

This is the second in a two-part series reflecting on free access to law and discussions held at the seminar on freedom of expression & safety of journalists for judges in Africa in Kampala, Uganda on 29-30 October 2019.

Med Kaggwa, Ugandan human rights defender RIP
Med Kaggwa, Ugandan human rights defender RIP

One of Uganda’s most prominent human rights defenders, Med Kaggwa, died unexpectedly this week, aged 64.

Kenyan judge upholds dismissal of alcohol-addicted senior magistrate
Kenyan judge upholds dismissal of alcohol-addicted senior magistrate

How far must an employer go to help a staffer with alcohol addiction? At what point is dismissal appropriate? Kenya’s high court had to consider this problem in relation to a senior magistrate who was given his marching orders by the Judicial Service Commission after he had been drunk on duty.

Tanzanian judges: nowhere to hide under-performance
Tanzanian judges: nowhere to hide under-performance

A new electronic system intended to promote citizens’ rights to access justice and introduced in Tanzania a few months ago, will allow anyone to read decisions almost immediately after delivery. The country’s Chief Justice explained how the system worked to newly-appointed judges at the start of their induction training in Dar Es Salaam this week. In addition to e-filing, the new system will see judgments loaded onto TanzLII immediately they have been handed down.

The power of law to challenge injustice
The power of law to challenge injustice

One of Namibia’s senior judges, David Smuts of that country’s Supreme Court, has just published a book on his work during the 1980s when Namibia was still virtually a province of South Africa. At that time, Smuts was a young lawyer determined to make a difference by exposing and curbing the shocking human rights atrocities he knew were taking place in Namibia on the orders of the SA government or its security arms. It’s a book full of thrilling stories about his work in that period, reminding readers of the power of law – and lawyers – to challenge injustice. As Smuts puts it himself in the sub-title of the book, it is the story of ‘a lawyer’s battle to hold power to account in 1980s Namibia’.

Attorney, fugitive from justice, sues Chief Justice but loses

The case of Siboniso Clement Dlamini has caused ructions in Eswatini’s legal circles for some time. Now three members of the high court have laid down the law. Dlamini, one of the country’s longest-serving attorneys, has been fighting to have the Chief Justice investigated for misconduct because the CJ barred Dlamini from appearing in any court until he submitted himself to prison as punishment for contempt of court. At the heart of the matter is Dlamini’s handling of a deceased estate – and a widow who is clamouring for her inheritance.

Why has Uganda’s important new human rights law not been officially promulgated?
Why has Uganda’s important new human rights law not been officially promulgated?

Hailed as a hugely significant step in promoting and protecting human rights, Uganda’s new law looked set to be an example for other African countries. But despite the hope and the hype around the new legislation, the law has not yet taken effect. This despite presidential assent eight months ago. Now the failure to publish this important new law is being challenged in court.

'Satan did it', claims rape accused
'Satan did it', claims rape accused

Mothers have been warned by a senior judge from Sierra Leone to be ‘doubly careful’ about the safety of their daughters. They should be ‘less trusting’ of others and should ‘prod on with love’ if they notice any change in their children, to find out the reason for the altered behaviour. This might help avert would-be rapists. Judge Reginald Fynn made these comments after finding a man guilty of raping a six-year-old who had been left in his care by the girl’s mother.

South African Police refuse to act against criminals targeting 'foreign truck drivers' - top judge wants action
South African Police refuse to act against criminals targeting 'foreign truck drivers' - top judge wants action

The South African Police Service has been taken to task by a senior judge over persistent complaints that they fail to act and enforce the law. In an astonishing claim, the police are said to refuse to intervene, even faced with clearly criminal activity, ‘until a court directs them to take action’. The judge president of the Mpumalanga division of the high court, Frans Legodi, said litigants raised similar difficulties in court every week. Photographs from the two latest matters showed police standing by but doing nothing to prevent crimes involving in protest against 'foreign truck drivers'. One of the parties in these two cases said when he asked the SAPS for help, he was told that he should ‘firstly procure a court order to enable the SAPS to come to (their) assistance.’ The JP said it was not clear whether the problem lay with the training given to the police or whether it was ‘just dereliction of duty’ by individuals. Problems experienced with police inaction were often reported in areas ‘where mining activities are very high’. He had therefore written a judgment on the behaviour of the police that would be sent to the provincial police commission to consider a proper investigation.

Convicted of genocide, former Rwandan cabinet minister loses last attempt to stay out of jail
Convicted of genocide, former Rwandan cabinet minister loses last attempt to stay out of jail

It has been a busy couple of months for one of the lesser-known – but critically important – courts in Arusha, Tanzania. Arusha houses a number of significant judicial bodies apart from the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights. Among these is a United Nations tribunal: the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Rwanda (IR-MCT). In a momentous ongoing case, a former Rwandan minister of planning, Augustin Ngirabatware, already convicted on several genocide-related charges, asked that the IR-MCT appeal chamber consider his claim that he had acquired sensational new evidence. This evidence was that four key witnesses who testified against him had recanted and now claimed they had not told the truth during his trial. At special hearings in September and October, the IR-MCT in Arusha considered Ngirabatware’s claims and related matters. The outcome, however, did him no good at all.

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