Despite the Constitutional Court decision on disclosing taxpayer information, there’s a risk the law will continue to shield most public representatives from the scrutiny of their finances and tax affairs, thus limiting the ability of voters to make informed choices at the ballot box.
The decision by South Africa’s Constitutional Court to invalidate legislation that
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Draft employment equity regulations an incoherent mess, but criticism largely based on false claims
Employment equity legislation helps to ensure that black applicants are treated fairly and to limit the appointment of less talented white applicants over more talented black applicants. Utilised well, it is a powerful tool in the fight against intellectual mediocrity and stagnation.
The recent publication of draft regulations setting out compulsory employment equity targets at…
On the quiet radicalism of the Namibian same sex marriage judgment
Earlier this week the Namibian Supreme Court ruled that the government’s refusal to recognise the validity of same-sex marriages concluded outside Namibia for the purpose of immigration law infringes the rights to dignity and equality guaranteed in the Namibian Constitution. While the judgment will, for now, only benefit a few same-sex couples who marry elsewhere,…
Eskom ruling is magical thinking – courts cannot fix intractable governance problems
The ruling by the North Gauteng High Court last week on the government’s obligation to provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity to schools, hospitals and police stations has been widely misunderstood. Even if the judgment is not overruled, it will do little to address the fundamental problem, not only because the order is directed at…
Coalition chaos: Why we need to develop political conventions rooted in respect for voters to protect us from selfish politicians
After the resignation last week of Al Jamah-ah councillor Thapelo Amad as mayor of Johannesburg, the city is set to get its eight mayor in just over two years. (The DA’s Mpho Phalatse served twice: she was briefly removed from office, then reinstated by the court, then removed again.) While municipal governments in many smaller…
Jabs in the dark – why this anti-vax group’s case is a legal non-starter
As this case centred on Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine shows, it is not in the interest of anti-vaxxers to have their claims subjected to the discipline of a court process requiring the production of evidence, not conjecture.
I have been ill in bed for the past week with what may or may not have been a…
Mkhwebane’s legal costs have spiralled out of control, but she is still entitled to a defence
It would be desirable for a compromise to be reached to make limited funding available to Busisiwe Mkhwebane to allow her to pay a much smaller and cheaper legal team to represent her.
Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and her legal representative, Dali Mpofu, are not known for their fidelity to the facts or the…
ANC leadership’s ‘outrage’ over Thabo Bester escape seems a tad manufactured
It was the ANC government that decided in 2000 to enter into a 25-year contract with security company G4S, which manages the prison from which Bester escaped. The contract was concluded despite the company’s international reputation for corruption, racism, abuse, violence and neglect.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the “ANC leadership” claimed to…
Why the Labour Court was wrong to accept that there was no race-based wage discrimination at Makro
A recent judgment of the Labour Court dismissing a claim by five black employees that Makro had unfairly discriminated against them by paying them less than they paid a white female employee who performed the same or substantially the same work, failed to consider the impact of previous and ongoing racial discrimination in the labour…
Dali Mpofu’s defence of Busisiwe Mkhwebane skating on very thin ethical and legal ice
Mpofu’s often spurious objections, lengthy monologues, politically motivated digressions, and ad hominem attacks on witnesses and political opponents sometimes seem to have only a tenuous connection to the applicable (accurate) legal principles and the relevant verifiable facts.
On Monday 6 March 2023, suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s legal representative, advocate Dali Mpofu, accused former Public…