Tag: Constitutional Court

I am perplexed as to why it should matter how the meeting between the ANC’s top 6 and former president Jacob Zuma went. They met him, apparently in an attempt to persuade him to comply with a court ruling and appear before the Zondo Commission of Enquiry. And they updated the country as if we should care.

The immense socio-economic impact under one of the world’s most extreme lockdown’s during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in South Africans uniting for their voices to be heard under a grassroots movement called Move One Million.

The Constitutional Court clarified that businesses registered as taxpayers would benefit from temporary tax relief when claiming future costs from current income received under contracts that are inextricably linked. The Future Expenditure Tax Allowance essentially grants a business temporary relief by reducing its tax payable to SARS if the income received upfront will be wholly or partially used to fund future costs.

Talk about bad timing. The Constitutional Court on 21 July 2020, after some 250 days of deliberation, decided that the way in which many franchise operators have been claiming their tax expenses does not rank for tax relief. SARS must be extremely pleased with the win, only the 4th ever tax related judgement delivered by the Constitutional Court since its inception.

On 18 May 2020, the Competition Commission published its final Buyer Power Guidelines (the guidelines). Earlier this year, the new buyer power provisions of the Competition Act 89 of 1998 (the Act) came into effect. These provisions prohibit dominant buyers in designated sectors from imposing unfair prices or trading conditions on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and firms owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged persons (HDP).

With deregulation glinting globally, the cannabis market is expected to explode. New Frontier Data’s Global Cannabis Report: 2019 Industry Outlook estimates that there are around 263 million legal users of cannabis and cannabis-related products worldwide. Africa is home to 83 million of these. The report estimates that the total legal cannabis market hit a value of $344 billion in 2018, and ranks Africa as one of the top five regional markets, accounting for $37.3 billion.

The Constitutional Court delivered judgement in the case of Association of Mine Workers and Construction Union and Others v Royal Bafokeng Platinum Mine Limited and Others. In this matter, the constitutionality of Section 189(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) was debated.

The Labour Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine matters arising from the Basic Conditions of Employment  Act (BCEA) regardless of the stage at which the proceedings are at. In limited instances namely, the determination of any matter concerning a contract of employment, the Labour Court shares jurisdiction with the civil courts. The BCEA does not contemplate a situation where an employee should first approach a labour inspector before seeking relief from the Labour Court.

Arthur Chaskalson: A Life Dedicated to Justice for All is a biography of a remarkable life lived in service both to law and to the struggle for social change and justice. The social change it describes is the victory over apartheid, which was won on several fronts and through the efforts of people in many nations, but an important one of those fronts lay in the courts of South Africa itself.

Legislation which governs hate speech must be interpreted in line with the constitutional right to freedom of expression, and anyone who is accused, or who accuses others, of hate speech, must be treated equally without regard to their inborn characteristics.