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South Africa Case Law

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Labour law

NUMSA and Others v Industrial Oleo Chemical Products

Section 189A(7)(b)(ii) creates a direct route to the Labour Court for dismissal disputes arising after failed facilitation in mass retrenchments. The cross-reference to section 191(11) operates as a time provision, not as a requirement to first go through conciliation. The Labour Appeal Court's contrary interpretation was set aside and the Labour Court's order reinstated.

Source excerpt

  • Operational requirements dismissals
  • Mass retrenchment
  • Facilitation
  • Conciliation
  • Jurisdiction of the labour court
  • Statutory interpretation
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Constitutional law

Solidarity Trade Union and Others v Minister of Health and Others

The Court held that the matter was properly before it despite being an abstract challenge, but that sections 36 to 40 of the National Health Act 61 of 2003 were constitutionally invalid because, on their face, they were not rationally connected to the asserted purposes of broadening access to health care and enforcing norms and standards, and they unjustifiably limited the section 22 right to choose a trade, occupation or profession freely. The provisions were therefore severed from the Act and the High Court’s order was confirmed.

Source excerpt

  • Abstract challenge
  • Rationality
  • Section 22 freedom to choose trade, occupation or profession
  • Section 36 limitations analysis
  • Severance
  • Confirmation of constitutional invalidity
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Constitutional law

Director-General, Department of Home Affairs and others v Amina Irankuda and Another

The Refugees Act does not reasonably admit an interpretation that creates a clear right for a failed asylum seeker to make subsequent asylum applications; the Act is framed for first-time applications and contains no dedicated framework, standard, or procedure for repeat applications. Non-refoulement and international-law considerations do not justify reading such a right into the Act.

Source excerpt

  • Refugees act 130 of 1998
  • Section 21(1)
  • Subsequent asylum applications
  • Sur place refugee
  • Non-refoulement
  • Interpretation
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Constitutional law

Iain George Dallas Wares v Additional Magistrate, Simonstown, Cape Town and Others

Section 10(1) is constitutionally invalid to the extent that it fails to provide a mechanism for a magistrate to grant or extend bail after a committal order, because that omission causes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty that infringes the procedural facet of section 12(1)(a) and the right in section 35(1)(f); the appropriate remedy is a suspended declaration of invalidity with a narrowly tailored reading-in allowing bail on application where the interests of justice permit.

Source excerpt

  • Right to freedom and security of the person
  • Bail pending extradition proceedings
  • Reading-in remedy
  • Suspension of declaration of invalidity
  • Extradition act 67 of 1962 section 10(1)
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Constitutional law

Golden Core Trade and Invest (Pty) Limited v Merafong City Local Municipality and Another

The Court held that Merafong's continued charging of the same unlawful surcharges in later years could not be insulated from the Minister's 18 July 2005 decision merely because new annual tariffs were adopted. Because the later charges flowed from the same unlawful basis and the Minister's decision had never been set aside, the Supreme Court of Appeal erred in limiting unlawfulness to a single financial year. The Court further held that section 8(9) of the Water Services Act is constitutionally valid because it operates within the constitutional and statutory scheme regulating water services…

Source excerpt

  • Constitutionality of section 8(9) of the water services act
  • Delay in judicial review
  • Municipal water tariffs
  • Just and equitable remedy
  • Retrospective relief
  • Oudekraal principle
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Constitutional law

Socialist Agenda of Dispossessed Africans v Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Section 43(2)(c) is constitutionally valid because the challenge concerns allocation of seats on an internal executive committee, not the right to vote for the municipal council; section 19(3)(a) is therefore not implicated, and section 160(8) requires fair representation in committee participation, not proportional representation based on electorate votes. Parliament's choice to resolve an equality of surpluses by lot does not infringe the Constitution and should not be displaced by the Court.

Source excerpt

  • Confirmation of invalidity
  • Municipal executive committee
  • Sortition by lot
  • Statutory interpretation
  • Fair representation
  • Right to vote
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Constitutional law

South Africa Riding for the Disabled Association v Regional Land Claims Commission, Western Cape and Others

SARDA lacked standing because the Constitutional Court's 2017 judgment finally determined that its interest in the restitution proceedings was limited to compensation. SARDA did not bring a proper rescission application against that 2017 order and was therefore not entitled to try to re-open or undermine it through an appeal against the Land Court's 2024 order. Since standing was absent, leave to appeal had to be refused, with costs.

Source excerpt

  • Standing
  • Intervention
  • Rescission
  • Finality of judgments
  • Costs
  • Lawful occupier compensation
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Criminal law

Zolani Godloza and Another v The State

The majority held that condonation should be granted and that this Court's jurisdiction is engaged because the applicants' complaints implicate the right to a fair trial and the right not to be deprived of freedom arbitrarily and without just cause. Leave to appeal was granted, and the appeal was partially upheld by setting aside the Supreme Court of Appeal's order and substituting an order granting the applicants leave to appeal to the High Court, to be heard with Mr Grifhs' appeal if practically possible. The majority did not decide the merits of the conviction and sentence directly.

Source excerpt

  • Single-witness evidence
  • Cautionary rule
  • Fair trial
  • Right to freedom and security of the person
  • Equality
  • Leave to appeal
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Constitutional law

Municipal Employees Pension Fund v City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and Others

The Court held that the Municipal Employees Pension Fund had locus standi because it became the current owner of the property and therefore had its own substantial and financial interest in the outcome of the review. The substitution order did not create standing in the abstract; rather, the applicant’s ownership supplied the necessary standing to continue the review proceedings instituted by Erf 82 Bryanston (Pty) Limited.

Source excerpt

  • Locus standi
  • Standing in review proceedings
  • Substitution of litigant
  • Transmissibility of review claim
  • Rezoning approval
  • Litis contestatio
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Constitutional law

(a) Werner van Wyk and Others v Minister of Employment and Labour (b) Commission for Gender Equality and Another v Minister of Employment and Labour and Others

The challenged BCEA and UIF provisions unlawfully differentiate between birth mothers and other parents, and the age cap on adoption-related leave for children below two years is also unjustified. The discrimination impairs equality and human dignity and cannot be saved by the Minister’s reliance on administrative or budgetary considerations. The constitutional invalidity should be confirmed, suspended for 36 months, with interim reading-in for the BCEA and deferred supplementary relief for the UIF Act and the age-cap issue if needed.

Source excerpt

  • Maternity leave
  • Parental leave
  • Adoption leave
  • Commissioning parental leave
  • Surrogacy
  • Unfair discrimination
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About this LexChat collection

South Africa decisions are organised by court, judge, legal area and indexed issue so a practitioner can move from a proposition to a citable authority with the surrounding context intact.

Source links and collection timestamps are retained alongside the indexed records.