In a speech delivered in 2008, Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Carole Lewis implicitly questioned the appointment of some black and female judges to the various courts in South Africa since 1994. She argued in a speech that the JSC has become dominated by politicians after the adoption of the final Constitution in 1996 and that [...]
Posts under ‘Uncategorized’
The Windows of Heaven (and your wallets) are open!
One of the (many) reasons why I am not a fascist or a Stalinist is because I am rather worried that people might begin to think that I am a repressed and self-hating homosexual who is trying to hide his true self by embracing rightwing Christian fundamentalism. If I ever wavered in my commitment to [...]
Ten countries…. and counting
Argentina became the tenth country (and the first in South America) to provide full marriage equality (including the right to adopt children) to same-sex couples late on Wednesday night. There are now about 250 million people worldwide living in jurisdictions which provide for marriage equity. Here is the list:
2001 Netherlands
2003 Belgium
2005 Spain
2005 Canada
2006 South Africa
2008 Norway
2009 Sweden
2010 [...]
On Vuvuzela’s and cultural imperialism
United Kingdom websites are abuzz with comments from irate football fans who complain about the blowing of the Vuvuzela during matches of the Fifa World Cup in South Africa. The vast majority of these comments call for the banning of the instrument from stadiums. Sensitive British football fans (if that is not a contradiction in [...]
Not a day for an argument
I was woken up this morning at 5:30 by the blaring of Vuvuzela’s. I got up and was going to write something for this Blog about the judgment of the High Court which found that the Mail & Guardian had the right to access all the information regarding tenders given out by the Local Organising [...]
World Cup guide to South Africa (part 1)
This is not a Blog about sport (unless you view politics as a kind of robust and sometimes dirty sport), but South Africa only hosts the Soccer World Cup once in a lifetime, so in the spirit of the moment, I thought I would post something fun about this momentous event in our nations history. [...]
Newsflash: sex workers also have dignity
Do sex workers have the same inherent human dignity guaranteed in our Constitution for everyone else living in South Africa – despite the fact that our Parliament in its “wisdom” has declared sex work illegal? In the case of Kylie v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration the Labour Court in effect found that they [...]
Report of the disciplinary committee in Adv Seth Nthai case
REPORT OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDUCT OF ADVOCATE SETH NTHAI SC
1 The Disciplinary Committee was appointed by the Pretoria Bar Council in terms of article 39(12) of its constitution, in conjunction with the Johannesburg Bar Council, after a complaint had been received by both councils from the State Attorney against [...]
What now for Shaik and De Kock?
The Constitutional Court today found that the President had erred and had acted irrationally by not affording the victims of “politically motivated crimes” a hearing before making a decision on whether to pardon the perpetrators of those crimes. In Albutt and Others vs President of the RSA and Others Chief Justice Ngcobo, writing for a unanimous court, [...]
Mpshe’s appointment: scandalous attack on independence of the judiciary
Maybe we are all suffering from abuse-of-power-fatigue? What with the probably unlawful dropping of charges against President Jacob Zuma, the probably unlawful firing of Vusi Pikoli as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), the clearly unlawful granting of “medical parole” to Schabir Shaik – that “terminally ill” (ha!) friend of President Zuma’s - (the same friend who was [...]
