Skip to document content Skip to main menu Skip to search

Latest Articles

Dispute over Facebook post brings major free speech decision by Eswatini high court
Dispute over Facebook post brings major free speech decision by Eswatini high court

The case of an airline accountant who posted a comment on his Facebook page that his employers have interpreted as being critical of the Eswatini government and the system of governance it operates has given the high court the opening to make an unusually strong defence of free expression. In his FB post, made at the time criticism over the government purchase of a number of luxury vehicles was making headlines, the accountant, Godfrey Exalto, included the word, ‘dictatorship’. His bosses said that by doing so he was bringing the airline company into ‘gross disrespect’.

Concerns over climate change stalemate court decision on UK financial support to Mozambique
Concerns over climate change stalemate court decision on UK financial support to Mozambique

A major decision by a senior UK court has split down the middle on whether that country should be financially backing a massive liquefied natural gas discovery in Mozambique. The case revolved around environmental questions and the climate change undertakings reached in terms of the 2015 Paris agreement. The Mozambique gas field is exceptionally rich and has the potential to catapult that country onto the list of the top five global suppliers of a growing international demand.

Major court victory against ‘deadly air’ in South Africa’s most polluted region
Major court victory against ‘deadly air’ in South Africa’s most polluted region

One of the most important recent South African judgments on environmental law has delivered by the high court in Gauteng province. The case concerns a region of SA where high levels of air pollution risk the health of all the people living there. This is well-known to the government, but very little has been done about it. Now, environmental organisations have challenged the government’s inertia, and have won a major victory, with the court declaring that constitutional rights were breached by the failure to act. The court has also given the minister of environmental affairs a strict deadline to produce effective regulations for managing the problem of air pollution.

Problems over legal standing to claim N$4billion plus world-famed game reserve for Namibian ethnic group
Problems over legal standing to claim N$4billion plus world-famed game reserve for Namibian ethnic group

Legal efforts by several members of a Namibian ethnic group to prepare for litigation contesting ownership rights to one of the world’s best known game reserves, the Etosha National Park, have met with mixed results at the country’s supreme court. Eight members of the Hai||om said that the park was originally the group’s ancestral land but that the Hai||om had been dispossessed before Namibian independence. The post-independence Windhoek government had further neglected the needs of the Hai||om and had not acted to correct historic wrongs. Now the eight wanted the highest court to rule on the plan they had devised to give themselves standing to run a vast land claims case, given that Namibian law does not permit class actions. The supreme court said it disagreed with the narrow approach taken by the high court. While it, like the high court, dismissed the plan put forward by the eight, it noted a couple of other options available to them if they wanted to go ahead with their litigation.

Report shows proportion of women judges varies strongly

A report by the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur women judges and prosecutors finds that the proportion of women on the bench varies a great deal from one country to another, and that in some jurisdictions women, if they are in fact appointed to the bench, serve on family or juvenile courts, rather than on commercial or criminal courts, where the bench tends to be reserved for male judges. The report makes a number of recommendations about how to improve the current situation.

Violence against women: on International Women’s Day, 2022, consider these two cases
Violence against women: on International Women’s Day, 2022, consider these two cases

Two random, recent cases from Namibia answer the question why there is the need for an annual marking of women’s day round the world. Both show how the vulnerability of girls and women make them easy targets for violence. And how, at crucial moments when they face the most danger, they may be completely deserted and left alone with their attackers.

Consider tax payer loss when deciding on bail in white-collar crime appeals – Uganda Supreme Court
Consider tax payer loss when deciding on bail in white-collar crime appeals – Uganda Supreme Court

Employees of a country’s tax collector represent a potential weak point for any revenue authority. South African police announced at the end of February that two staffers of the SA Revenue Service had been arrested after they allegedly demanded R150 000 from a tax payer. The money was to cancel an outstanding tax bill. It’s a problem repeated almost every year, with SA officials arrested over similar allegations, often having taken bribes to make a taxpayer’s problems ‘go away’. And with most countries in the region reporting cases of alleged involvement by revenue collection staff, it’s clearly not a problem peculiar to SA. One of the most recent judgments dealing with such an issue comes from Uganda where the Supreme Court was asked to authorise the grant of bail to two Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) staffers, convicted of causing financial loss to the fiscus, and of other offences under the Anti-Corruption Act.

Once-powerful Malawian political figure ‘lied’ to court in divorce settlement case – senior magistrate
Once-powerful Malawian political figure ‘lied’ to court in divorce settlement case – senior magistrate

Nicholas Dausi has had a full and chequered career as a political figure in Malawi. He’s held significant positions under the governments of Bingu and Peter Mutharika, for example, becoming head of intelligence services as well as an MP. But nothing will have been as challenging as his court battle with V, his now-divorced wife. In theory, she is someone who should cause Dausi no problems: since their divorce in December 2021, she lives a completely separate life and earns a small salary as a shop assistant. But when V brought an application to the principal resident magistrate’s court for distribution of matrimonial property acquired while they were wed, things changed very quickly.

Court orders unusually high damages for defamatory allegations made against Namibia’s First Lady

An opposition political party figure in Namibia has been found to have defamed the wife of the President, Hage Geingob, and was ordered to pay damages at a very significant level to First Lady, Monica Geingos. The high court found that Abed-Nego Hishoono had actually intended to target Geingob with his defamatory social media claims and that Hishoono’s claims that he merely repeated rumours already circulating about Geingos did not lessen the seriousness of his actions.

Citing separation of powers, Lesotho court refuses to order that national assembly vote on no confidence debate by secret ballot
Citing separation of powers, Lesotho court refuses to order that national assembly vote on no confidence debate by secret ballot

Attempts by two MPs to bypass an investigation into possibly holding secret ballots in the Lesotho National Assembly have come unstuck: the High Court has rejected an application by the duo for the court to order that a no confidence ballot against the Prime Minister be held by secret ballot, saying this had to be decided by the assembly itself. The court also took the opportunity to restate the boundaries between the executive, legislature and judiciary, and to urge ‘political honesty’ from MPs, saying ‘political morality is the hygiene that is needed to embed and sustain citizens’ faith’ in Lesotho’s ‘young democracy’.

Kenyan court rules presidential power to hold under-age offenders in prison indefinitely is unconstitutional, orders prisoner released at once
Kenyan court rules presidential power to hold under-age offenders in prison indefinitely is unconstitutional, orders prisoner released at once

A Kenyan high court has declared that rights given to the head of government to detain certain convicted prisoners ‘at the pleasure of the president’ are unconstitutional. This is because the court found these powers usurp the power of the courts. But the case was not just a theoretical exercise; it concerned a very real matter in which a prisoner, convicted of a crime that attracted the death penalty at the time, was sentenced to jail ‘at the pleasure of the president’ because he was under age. That was well over 16 years ago. Now the man, known only by his initials, ‘JMR’, can no longer be held in what amounts to indefinite imprisonment, and must be released immediately, said the court.

Wildlife vs cattle: unauthorised newcomers cause tensions in Namibian conservation areas
Wildlife vs cattle: unauthorised newcomers cause tensions in Namibian conservation areas

Land is a major source of tension and dissatisfaction in Namibia and the courts are increasingly asked to step in when communities feel they are being ‘invaded’ by outsiders whose livestock put unbearable pressure on already scarce grazing resources. The latest such case involves a community trying to reinvent itself as a base for wildlife tourism: members of this community asked the court to order the removal of a number of families, with their livestock. They claim these outsiders and their animals are living on and grazing areas set aside for community wildlife conservation projects.

Innovative Kenyan judgment on Presidential inaction should be studied by other jurisdictions - Justice Mathilda Twomey
Innovative Kenyan judgment on Presidential inaction should be studied by other jurisdictions - Justice Mathilda Twomey

The decision of a Kenyan judge has won high praise from trainers at a recent judicial core skills workshop by the Judicial Institute for Africa (JIFA), held in Cape Town and attended by judges from 12 African countries. The decision, by high court judge Enoch Mwita, dealt with a situation in which the President of the country, Uhuru Kenyatta, was held to have ignored the constitution by failing to appoint a member of the Judicial Service Commission. Justice Mohamed Warsame was elected by the judges of the Court of Appeal as their representative on the JSC, but Kenyatta did not officially appoint Justice Warsame even though he was obliged to do so by the constitution. What should be the court’s response, faced with the President’s continuing failure to act in terms of the constitution and appoint the commissioner? Judge Mwita’s decision, to ‘deem’ that Justice Warsame was appointed to the JSC, was highly praised by trainer Justice Mathilda Twomey, former Chief Justice of Seychelles and JIFA’s academic director. She said the deeming decision was recognition that new judicial tools need to be designed to fit circumstances in which the executive refuses to obey and enforce court orders.

Registration of a child’s birth: Unmarried fathers no longer treated differently from married fathers
Registration of a child’s birth: Unmarried fathers no longer treated differently from married fathers

On 22 September 2021, the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment in the case of  Centre for Child Law v Director General: Department of Home Affairs and Others [2021] ZACC 31 ; the judgment found section 10 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992 (the "Act"), to be invalid in its entirety, and consequently severed it from the Act, along with the wording in section 9(2) which subjected that provision to section 10.

Training Tanzania’s judiciary on gender issues - the struggle, and the partial success
Training Tanzania’s judiciary on gender issues - the struggle, and the partial success

Training of judges and magistrates is an accepted tool to deal with built-in opinions and prejudices. In the same way, training can also be crucial in highlighting inaccurate preconceptions about gender issues. In her chapter forming part of the new work,  Gender, Judging and the Courts in Africa , Juliana Masabo (a Tanzanian high court judge and former academic) takes readers through the difficulties in ensuring training for judges, magistrates and others who play a role in the court processes of Tanzania.

Wiser to restrain ongoing activity than risk irreparable damage to the environment – Zambian judge
Wiser to restrain ongoing activity than risk irreparable damage to the environment – Zambian judge

Two Tanzanian-owned entities operating on the edge of a significant national park in Zambia, have been ordered to stop cutting down trees, clearing vegetation or putting up constructions at least until the dispute between them and the trust running the reserve is resolved. The judge hearing the application for an interim order against the two entities said that the status quo ‘should not be maintained. It would be wiser to restrain ongoing activity rather than risk irreparable damage to the environment.’

Dismissal of staffer who refused Covid-19 vaccine ruled ‘fair’
Dismissal of staffer who refused Covid-19 vaccine ruled ‘fair’

Is mandatory workplace vaccination constitutional? Is it even a fair workplace practice? These are questions being asked in many jurisdictions as employers try to ensure safe work environments. The issue is also beginning to filter into the court system, as those who do not want to be vaccinated challenge employers who have made vaccination mandatory. In what seems to be the first such case to reach the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in South Africa, the commissioner hearing the matter has decided that the company concerned did not act unfairly in dismissing an employee who refused to be vaccinated.

Controversial South African advocate barred by Lesotho CJ from prosecuting treason, murder case
Controversial South African advocate barred by Lesotho CJ from prosecuting treason, murder case

Controversial advocate, Shaun Abrahams, forced from his top prosecution job in South Africa, has been hauled over the coals by Lesotho’s Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane for his behaviour in a bitterly contested trial, and has been barred from further participation in the matter. Since he was dropped as the national prosecuting boss in SA, Abrahams has also had a not very successful stint prosecuting in Botswana. He was brought in to help the prosecuting authorities in Lesotho with a series of high-profile, politically sensitive murder and treason cases.

Gay 'spouses' case: Namibia's high court urges supreme court to change its mind
Gay 'spouses' case: Namibia's high court urges supreme court to change its mind

In a most unusual judgment, a full bench of Namibia’s high court has spelled out its strong disagreement with a decision made 21 years ago by that country’s highest court – and has urged the presently constituted Supreme Court to reconsider its views on the matter. The case, crucial for the country’s LGB community, and for human rights more broadly, concerned two same-sex couples (both couples involved one Namibian and one non-Namibian partner) ranged against the immigration authorities. The majority in a 2001 supreme court judgment had held that same-sex relationships were deliberately not recognised by the constitution, but the high court has now said while it was bound by this decision, it could not agree with it, and urged that the Supreme Court reconsider the matter.

The tale of an elephant in the room, by the supreme court of Seychelles
The tale of an elephant in the room, by the supreme court of Seychelles

What does the tale of an on-again, off-again, children’s day-care centre in Seychelles have to say to readers from other legal jurisdictions? The case is apparently about how a court might approach what seems to be a valid lease that the government appears desperate to cancel. While that sounds unexceptional, here’s the catch: there are suggestions that the original deal to award the lease might have been finalised as a political favour and the government, caught out by the opposition, wanted to renege on the deal so as not to appear corrupt. Against this strained background, the judgment looks at what a court is to do about a valid lease and the government’s stratagems to have it cancelled.

Recent news

Categories