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African Judges Presiding over African Presidents

WHEN SA high court judge Themba Sishi entered the historic court room in the east coast city of Durban to preside in the corruption case of former president Jacob Zuma, he became one of a select few judges required to try an African president.

Between abduction and contempt of court: children left without parents

A NIGERIAN father of three, serving time in a UK jail, says the English judges who heard his case are “racist” and “biased”, and that his imprisonment amounts to slavery. Levi Egeneonu is in prison for contempt of court, after he refused to return his three sons to the UK, where their mother – who has not seen her children since 2013 – is desperate about their fate. The man also claims that he cannot obey the orders of the UK courts since they conflict with the orders of the Nigerian courts.

Justice for ex-corporal more than three decades later

IN one of the most unusual decisions yet to come out of Kenya’s constitutional court division, Judge Chacha Mwita has upheld a claim by a former member of that country’s defence force, that he was unlawfully detained for over four years until 1986. The court found it could consider the case, even though the events took place so long ago, and has awarded damages of almost R900 000, plus costs and interest.

How the free movement of people could benefit Africa

Africa’s Free Movement Protocol will open up the continent for easy travel and big business. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Judge removed for corruption loses reinstatement appeal

ONE of the most painful periods in Kenya’s judicial history has been re-opened, with an appeal by former judge Tom Mbaluto against his 2008 dismissal from the bench for corruption. As Carmel Rickard explains, the former judge was dismissed after a tribunal sat to hear allegations against him and recommended his removal from office. Dissatisfied with the outcome, however, he has brought two court challenges contesting his removal, the second of which has now been finalized by Kenya’s court of appeal.

REFORMING ZAMBIA’S MENTAL HEALTH LAW: THE CASE OF MWEWA AND OTHERS V THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND ANOTHER
REFORMING ZAMBIA’S MENTAL HEALTH LAW: THE CASE OF MWEWA AND OTHERS V THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND ANOTHER

Many African countries are currently being governed using laws which were passed during the pre-independence period. Essentially, this means that countries are running using colonial rules and laws. Specifically, many countries have got mental health laws that are archaic. Zambia is not an exception. It has the Mental Disorders Act of 1951.

Court rejects international arrest warrants in African trafficking case

VULNERABLE girls and young women trafficked from Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ghana will have to wait even longer before they know whether they will ever get justice. The couple accused of trafficking them, referred to only as M and B, because they have children who may not be identified, are the subject of extradition attempts. An Italian court in Naples has asked the UK courts to respond to two European arrest warrants (EAWs) and extradite M and B, now in the UK. That extradition was approved in 2016 but the UK judge dealing with an appeal in the matter said there were serious problems about the information provided as part of the arrest warrants: “a wholesale failure to provide the necessary particulars”

Worrying failure of Kenyan government to heed court orders

EXPLOSIVE tension between two rival political leaders in Kenya may have been eased by last week’s unexpected meeting between them but there’s another, growing, tension of major concern: that between government and the judiciary in Kenya.

Bring back the SADC Tribunal, says judge

ONE of the strong calls to emerge from this year’s SADC-Lawyers Association conference in Maputo, Mozambique, was for the “old” SADC Tribunal to be reinstated. The tribunal was scrapped at the instigation of Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, and SADC leaders then negotiated another tribunal that would deal only with disputes between member states, and not between individuals and states as in the past. Among those who expressed support for the “old” tribunal to return was SA judge, Thoba Poyo Dlwati, a former president of SADC-LA, who spoke about the human rights infrastructure of the region.

Copyright & A2K Issues - 17 September 2018

This is a free online international Information Service covering various topics, including copyright, plagiarism and other IP matters, Open Access, open publishing, open learning resources, institutional repositories, scholarly communication, digitization and library matters, mobile technologies, issues affecting access to knowledge (A2K), particularly in developing countries; WTO and WIPO treaties and matters; Free Trade Agreements and TRIPS Plus; useful websites, conference alerts, etc.  Archives are available at:  http://www.africanlii.org/content/copyright-a2k-information .  If you would like to subscribe to, or unsubscribe from, this newsletter, please do so at:  http://lists.wits.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/copyrightanda2kinfo    or email  Denise.Nicholson@wits.ac.za  only (N.B. PLEASE DO NOT SEND TO WHOLE MAILING LIST)