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Zuma's 'Stalingrad' strategy sharply in focus

The reason for the decision to prosecute former President Jacob Zuma on charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud and corruption does not matter, even if it was politically motivated. This is one of the arguments set to be put to ...

Uganda court blocks bid to suspend journalists

Uganda's High Court yesterday blocked a government bid to suspend dozens of top journalists on the grounds their coverage of the arrest of popstar MP Bobi Wine had endangered national security. The Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) earlier this month called ...

UN backs Mauritius in archipelago dispute

The UN has passed a resolution demanding the UK return control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Mauritius says it was forced to give up the Indian Ocean group in 1965 in exchange for ...

Rwandan rebel leader pleads guilty to terrorism

A rebel leader accused of orchestrating deadly attacks in Rwanda's border regions yesterday pleaded guilty to terrorism and other charges, and admitted to working with foreign governments against Kigali. The admission of conspiracy by Callixte Nsabimana, the spokesperson for the ...

SA Express to lay graft charges against former execs

SA Express will be laying fraud and corruption charges against some of its former executives after a forensic investigation found that a number of transactions may have prejudiced the state-owned airline out of millions of rands, says a Business Day ...

Black-on-black K-word not an insult – defence

The dignity of Investec chairperson Fana Titi was not ‘impaired’ when businessman Peter-Paul Ngwenya called him a QwaQwa ka***r in an SMS, the Randburg Magistrate's Court heard yesterday. According to a News24 report, Ngwenya’s lawyer, Nqabayethu Buthelezi, said during his ...

Used car dealer pleads guilty to fraud

* Wayne Stuart Fester, a known second-hand vehicle dealer based in Malmesbury, appeared at the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Bellville this week where he pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud. He stands accused of selling victims’ vehicles and ...

Stacey Adams' killer gets four life terms

Stacey Adams’ killer, Christopher Brown, has been sentenced to four life terms for the girl’s rape and murder, and for the murder of Thulisa Lavisa, the mother of his 4-year-old son. According to a report on the IoL site, Brown ...

SANDF soldier accused of murder fires legal team –again

The SANDF soldier who allegedly went on a shooting spree at the home of his girlfriend, killing one person and injuring three others fired his attorney and the advocate instructed to conduct his guilty plea yesterday. According to a report ...

Municipality to repay Gift of the Givers

The Makana Municipality in the Eastern Cape is in the process of determining how The Gift of the Givers (GoG) will be compensated for its work done in the water scarce town of Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown. According to ...

Reserve Bank keeps repo rate unchanged

Yesterday, as expected, the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) kept interest rates unchanged at 6.75%. According to a TimesLIVE report, all 22 economists polled by Bloomberg expected the repo rate to remain unchanged despite lower inflation and a weaker ...

Author's alleged attacker denied bail

SA author, Dianne Case, who was stabbed by an ex-prisoner she had tried to help, appeared in Wynberg Regional Court this week. A News24 report notes that the Woodstock-born writer's books include stories about ordinary people navigating their way through ...

Water pollution case against Aurora directors next week

The prosecution of Aurora directors is expected to get under way at the Springs Magistrate's Court on Tuesday ‘for environmental and water transgressions at the failed Grootvlei mine near Springs in the Upper Vaal Management Area’, says the Organisation Undoing ...

Convicted prisoner sworn in as EFF MP

A convicted prisoner, now on parole, was among those sworn in as an MP this week. The EFF's Kenny Motsamai is a former military commander of the Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) who spent 28 years in jail for killing ...

DA tries again to get rid of Mkhwebane

DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said yesterday the party has written to Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, to request a hearing to consider the removal of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. The Public Protector can be removed by Parliament ...

Mystery letter halts Zuma corruption hearing

Intro here

Dexter and Zille cross swords in twitter war

Politician Phillip Dexter has issued a lawyer's letter to former Western Cape Premier Helen Zille over what he calls a 'callous and cruel' personal dig about his ex-wife and child. Zille, however, says she has consulted her lawyers and he ...

Coligny killers to take appeal bid to SCA

The two men convicted of killing a teenager in Coligny, North West, were denied leave to appeal their sentences in the North West High Court (Mmabatho) yesterday, News24 reports. In March, the two were convicted of killing Matlhomola Moshoeu. In ...

SSA denies Minister doubled as a spy

State Security Agency Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba's office has denied claims she had spied for the agency on her colleagues in the ANC. And the agency has categorically denied that Letsatsi-Duba had been one of its sources or agents. A TimesLIVE ...

Greece beach racial slur case to be heard next week

Adam Catzavelos, the man who caused an uproar in 2018 after a video emerged of him using the k-word while on holiday in Greece, is expected to appear in the Randburg Magistrate's Court next week, according to News24. NPA spokesperson ...

Steinhoff facing mass investor lawsuit in Germany

Steinhoff International Holdings, already embroiled in multiple legal claims over its accounting, is now also facing a mass investor lawsuit in Germany after a Frankfurt court received ten suits, the minimum amount to allow the cases to be heard jointly ...

Cecilia Steyn the 'witch' behind Krugersdorp killings – state

The only way to escape from a murderous Krugersdorp enterprise, was to fake one's death and go into hiding. That was how a prosecutor portrayed the cult-like 'Krugersdorp Killers' yesterday during closing arguments in the trial featuring religion, satanism and ...

Maties dispute with rugby boss now out of court

The R37m lawsuit by the University of Stellenbosch (Maties) against SA Rugby chief executive Jurie Roux, which has dragged on for seven years, is now set to go to independent arbitration after the two parties agreed to remove the battle ...

California sues government over high-speed rail project

The State of California and California High-Speed Rail Authority filed a complaint this week against the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for de-obligating nearly $1bn previously allocated to a high-speed rail project in the California Central Valley. A Jurist report ...

Geoffrey Rush wins largest payout in Australia

Geoffrey Rush now holds the record for the largest defamation payout to a single person in Australia after The Daily Telegraph agreed to pay the actor almost $2m for lost earnings, on top of an $850 000 payout, for a ...

Zimbabwe NGO workers charged with plotting terror

Five NGO workers in Zimbabwe have been charged with plotting to overthrow the government. BBC News reports that they allegedly received ‘terrorism and civil disobedience’ training in the Maldives. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, they were arrested at Robert ...

UK accountancy body permitted to administer oaths

Chartered accountancy regulator the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has received a crumb of comfort from the Lord Chancellor in its long-running campaign to become a regulator of reserved legal activities. A Law Gazette report notes ...

Botswana scraps elephant hunting ban

Botswana has scrapped its ban on hunting, citing an increase in conflicts between elephants and humans during the five years the rule was in place. CNN reports that the country which is home to 130 000 elephants – about one ...

The influence of African first ladies

A recent study by a group of South African academics has confirmed the widely held view that former First Lady, Grace Mugabe used her proximity to the President Robert Mugabe to interfere with government decisions and was closely embedded in ...

Ireland probes Google for privacy infringements

The Irish Data Protection Commission has opened an investigation into Google over suspected infringements of European Union privacy rules. A report in The Guardian notes that the statutory inquiry will probe whether Google’s online Ad Exchange violated general data protection ...

UN condemns UK Chagos Islands occupation

The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed a motion condemning Britain’s occupation of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean. A report in The Guardian notes that the 116-6 vote left the UK diplomatically isolated and was also ...

Oxford wins right to force old professor to retire

Oxford and Cambridge universities can force old professors to retire in order to boost diversity, a 'significant' tribunal ruling suggests. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Professor John Pitcher, a leading Shakespeare scholar and fellow at St John’s ...

Time to revive shelved 'mixed electoral system' report?

Apathy and disillusionment may be factors in the considerably reduced voter turn-out in the recent elections, but the real problem could lie in the electoral system itself, based on closed-list proportional representation. 'It may it may be that voters do ...

Radical switch in digital policy the key to delivery

While much hope is being invested in the new Cabinet and government ushering in a fresh beginning for SA, the reality is that as long as the core system of governance is radically altered to embrace a rapidly changing digital ...