Legal Magazine

The start of the third term in the South Gauteng High court saw the introduction by the Road Accident Fund of the following clause in all tenders made: “In the event of plaintiff having concluded a contingency fees agreement with his/her attorney, such settlement shall be deemed to denote that the plaintiff and his/her attorney had complied with section 4 of the Contingency Fees Act, 66 of 1997 through having filed required affidavits with either the court, if the matter is before court, or with the relevant professional controlling body, if the matter is not before court.” More...

The South Gauteng High Court recently handed down judgment in the case of Bosasa Operation (Pty) Ltd v Adriaan Basson and M & G Media Limited in which the interesting issue was raised of the extent to which journalists' sources can be protected by privilege. More...

There has been much reported over the last few months regarding the office of the National Consumer Commission. It appears that the Commission has lost favour with some government departments and big players in the private sector, including the Department of Trade and Industry. The National Consumer Commission was launched in April last year in terms of the Consumer Protection Act (the Act). The Commission had been established to ensure that prohibited conduct and offences in respect of consumers were detected and prosecuted. More...

Is an employer entitled to dismiss an employee in every case where the employer is of the view that there is a breakdown in the trust relationship between them? More...

South Africa has been gripped by numerous large scale strikes over the last few months, with many of them being characterised by extreme violence, intimidation and damage to property. The most recent being the strike at Lonmin’s Marikana mine near Rustenburg, which began as an illegal strike and resulted in tragedy when police opened fire on a group of illegally striking workers, killing 34 of them and wounding 78. Another 260 were arrested and charged with public violence. More...

Mr Dyokwe commenced employment with Mondi Packaging in 2000. In 2003, he was told by his manager to go to an office in Tyger Valley “to sign a form”. This was the office of a labour broker, where he was told he would have to sign a contract with the labour broker, Adecco Recruitment Services. He signed the contract and returned to the Mondi factory, where he continued to do the same work under the same manager. Mr Dyokwe was illiterate. His rate was reduced from R12.56 to R10.00 per hour. In January 2009, he was told by Mondi that his name was on a list of employees whose services had been terminated. When he went to the labour broker he was told that he was too old to be placed in another job. More...