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Mar
16
2023

Unconstitutional for Uganda’s tax authority to demand banks supply sensitive information on every single client

By Carmel Rickard

In March 2018, the Commissioner General of the Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA) sent notices to Uganda’s banks requiring them to supply key information about every single client. The banks in turn challenged whether this move was lawful, and the country’s constitutional court has now declared that it was not.

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The list of petitioners in this case is long and startling: it was brought by 29 banks, Uganda’s development bank and the umbrella body for Uganda’s banks. Their petition dealt with several issues, but the central legal fight concerned a series of notices sent to the banks by the Commissioner General (CG) of the Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA).

Mar
15
2023

Lesotho's CJ bemoans police impunity & its effect on rule of law

By Carmel Rickard

The frustration of Lesotho’s Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane at continuing police brutality against ordinary citizens of that country is plainly evident in a new decision. Just as disturbing for him is the fact that police mostly commit these acts with impunity – seldom are they investigated and prosecuted – and the attorney general often fights against complainants if they ever bring a claim for damages, even in the face of completed medical reports that put the matter beyond doubt.

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Here’s how the CJ began his decision on the December 2015 assault of Khabanyane: ‘In this case, the hydra-headed monster of police brutality has reared its ugly head and claimed the scalp of a person with a visual disability.’

He also noted that Khabanyane reported the dawn assault later the same day and the officer commanding at the Mafateng police station gave him a medical form in which a doctor duly completed his findings and comments on the injuries sustained by Khabanyane.

Mar
02
2023

New Kenyan judgment shows difficulties for courts when adjudicating environmental matters

By Carmel Rickard

A cohort of judges has been carefully trained by Jifa to deal with environmental and climate change cases. But what if those who bring petitions to court, even those who may have a genuine case, don’t present evidence that measures up? The latest decision from Kenya’s environment and land court illustrates the problem.

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A new decision by Kenyan environment and land court judge, Anne Koross, illustrates some of the difficulties for courts handling environmental matters when litigants do not understand what is required in cases of this kind.

Mar
01
2023

Magistrate wins defamation case against accused

By Carmel Rickard

A Namibian magistrate has been awarded damages of N$20 000 after an accused, appearing in court before her, handed up a document in which he defamed her. Among other claims, the document, hand-written by the accused, said she was paid by the family of the complainant in the criminal case before her. The magistrate then brought a defamation action in the high court. Now she has won her case and the judge who heard the matter ordered that if the man who defamed her didn’t make her a written apology, the damages award would jump to N$30 000.

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Oshakati magistrate, Helen Ekandjo, has more than 20 years’ experience on the bench. She might even have thought that she had seen it all – but when David David appeared before her in October 2021, it sparked a novel situation, one that has ended up in the high court with a successful defamation action.

Feb
16
2023

Funeral business loses bid to enforce contract, claim damages, from Zim mining group

By Carmel Rickard

Doves Funeral Assurance hoped to persuade the high court in Harare that it had a valid agreement with Zimplats to provide an employee funeral scheme, and that after Zimplats cancelled, it should pay the funeral company more than US $4m in damages for lost profit. But Judge Amy Tsanga wasn’t convinced.

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At the end of 2012, Zimbabwe Platinum Mine (Zimplats) called for tenders to provide an employee funeral scheme for its staff. Several months later, in March 2013, Zimplats wrote to one of the tenderers, Doves Funeral Assurance, to say it had won the tender.

Feb
16
2023

Overhaul essential elements of Malawi’s adoption laws, high court urges

By Carmel Rickard

The Malawian judge who some years ago authorised singer Madonna’s adoption of two girls has now delivered a thorough-going critique of the legislation surrounding adoptions in that country, with strong recommendations for parliament about changes that should be made urgently, to protect the many vulnerable babies who need new homes and families through the adoption process.

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This is a fascinating, multi-layered decision by Malawi high court judge, Fiona Mwale. At one level, there’s the story about the intended adoption and the mini-drama that played out in court over this particular case. But then there’s also her thoroughgoing critique of Malawi’s provisions for adoption, with wide-ranging recommendations to the country’s law-makers, explaining what needs updating and change, and why.

Feb
02
2023

Former payment officer sued after Namibian national student funds go missing

By Carmel Rickard

When money in a Namibian national student assistant fund went missing, siphoned off into the bank accounts of someone who was not registered as a beneficiary of the fund, alarm bells rang. An internal investigation pointed to a payments officer being responsible for the fraud, but he resigned before a disciplinary hearing could be finalised. The fund then sued the former employee and this case has begun in the high court, Namibia.

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Of all people in need of help, students dependent on grants must be among the most vulnerable. So, when someone is alleged to have stolen from the fund that underwrites students’ studies and their living expenses, the resulting case ought to cause more than usual interest and curiosity.

Feb
01
2023

Huge corruption challenge for sub-Saharan Africa - latest Transparency International index

By Carmel Rickard

The 2022 report from Transparency International, ranking the world’s states according to their perceived levels of corruption, has a few surprises. This latest index from TI lists Denmark as the least corrupt country in the world – but several states in Western Europe have scored markedly worse than before. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Seychelles once again tops the score-sheet for the region, while Somalia scores the lowest not just in the region, but in the world.

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Perhaps the most telling take-aways from this year’s Transparency International (TI) index, ranking the world’s countries according to their corruption levels, come right at the start of the report: corruption and conflict are inextricably linked, says the report; and countries with strong and well-functioning democratic governments are often the least corrupt.

Feb
01
2023

Death penalty confirmed by Zambia’s court of appeal days before capital punishment scrapped. What happens now?

By Carmel Rickard

Zambia’s court of appeal has dealt with a sensational murder and arson case in a recent decision that highlights two problems. First, the court’s judgment of 16 December 2022 upheld the death penalty imposed on a woman accused of murdering her gym instructor boyfriend by setting him alight. Just days after the appeal court’s decision, however, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema finally abolished the death penalty, leading the justice minister to comment that from now on, no court could impose the death penalty.

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Mirriam Chilosha was convicted of murder and arson for which she was sentenced to death (for murder) and to life imprisonment (for arson) by Zambia’s high court. She had killed her gym instructor boyfriend, Jeremiah Mbawa, by setting him alight. In the process she also set fire to the house belonging to Floriana Lodge, where he was staying.

Jan
26
2023

Maseko killed by ‘demented enemies of justice’, independent inquiry demanded

By Carmel Rickard

A flood of shocked, sometimes angry, sometimes despairing, often challenging, responses has followed the murder of Eswatini human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko, last weekend. From embassies to human rights defenders in remote parts of the continent, all have paid tribute to this extraordinary man and his dedication to the task of ensuring justice and democracy for the people of his home country.

The law society of Namibia (LSN) may have encapsulated the outrage of the democratic community in Southern Africa when it angrily described the killers of Eswatini human rights lawyer, Thulani Maseko, as ‘demented enemies of justice’.

The LSN was reacting to the assassination-style murder of Maseko on the evening of 21 January. He was shot through the window of his home outside the capital of Eswatini.

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