The Constitutional Court of South Africa has dismissed final attempts by two contractors to overturn findings against them in the controversial R40 million Beitbridge border fence project, bringing a years-long legal battle to a close. In judgments handed down this week, the apex court refused applications for leave to appeal by Profteam CC and Caledon River Properties, trading as Magwa Construction. The companies had sought to challenge earlier rulings declaring their contracts unlawful. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) said it…

The Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) is set to appear before the Constitutional Court of South Africa on Wednesday, challenging the constitutionality of the parliamentary process that led to the adoption of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act in 2023. In its application, the BHF argues that Parliament failed to meet its constitutional obligation to facilitate meaningful public participation before passing the legislation, and is seeking to have the Act declared invalid and set aside. The organisation stressed that its…

The Constitutional Court of South Africa has dismissed an application by Reynolds Maleka, who claimed he was forced to resign from his job at ADT Security after changes to his role. The judgment, delivered on 24 February 2026, relates to a long running dispute about whether Maleka was constructively dismissed. This means he argued that his employer made his working conditions so difficult that he had no choice but to resign. Maleka worked as an IT Director for ADT, which…

Deeply committed to her work, Johannesburg Magistrate Katlego Mokoena speaks with both pride and frustration, pride in the impact she is able to make, and frustration at the structural barriers that continue to shape women’s experiences in the legal profession. Her current focus lies in cases involving children, work she describes as among the most emotionally demanding in South Africa’s justice system. Mokoena serves at the Children’s Court in Ekurhuleni, where she deals with a range of matters, including civil,…

Pressure is rising on the Constitutional Court as political parties and civil society intensify calls for the release of the long-awaited judgment on the Phala Phala matter involving President Cyril Ramaphosa. On Friday, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) added force to the national debate by leading a large march to the Constitutional Court, demanding that the court deliver its ruling more than a year after hearing the case. The march began at Mary Fitzgerald Square, where EFF members and supporters…

In a landmark ruling that champions equality, the Constitutional Court has declared that men may legally adopt their wives’ surnames. This decision, which strikes down archaic and discriminatory provisions of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, is rightly celebrated as a victory for human dignity and a blow to patriarchal norms. But to fully appreciate the profundity of this judgment, we must look beyond the question of gender and ask a more fundamental one: what is a surname, really? The…

In a historic decision on Thursday, the Constitutional Court declared sections of the Births and Deaths Registration Act unconstitutional, opening the way for men in South Africa to assume their wives’ surnames after marriage. The ruling, which confirms a lower court’s finding, is being hailed as a watershed moment for gender equality in the country’s legal system. Justice Leona Theron, delivering the unanimous judgment, struck down Section 26(1)(a)–(c) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992, which had…

The Constitutional Court of South Africa stands as a potent symbol of hard-won freedom, a gleaming architectural and jurisprudential rebuke to apartheid’s tyranny. Its rulings on socio-economic rights, dignity and equality promised a rupture from a past where the state – the colonial and apartheid corpus– stood irrevocably alienated from, and hostile to, the Black majority – the demos. However, the very foundation supporting this beacon exposes a troubling continuity: its heavy reliance on private, mostly foreign funding, routed through…

South Africa’s long-running legal saga over Vodacom’s “Please Call Me” (PCM) innovation reached yet another turning point on Thursday. In a unanimous decision, the Constitutional Court overturned the February 2024 Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling in favour of Nkosana Makate and sent the case back for a fresh hearing before a different panel of SCA judges. Delivering his final judgment before retirement, outgoing Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga found that the SCA had committed procedural errors in handling the…

The Limpopo Department of Public Works, Roads, and Infrastructure has announced an out of court settlement between the Roads Agency Limpopo (RAL) and its former CEO, Gabriel Maluleke, ending a bitter legal battle marked by multiple court defeats for the department. In a media statement released on 14 March 2025, the department confirmed that Maluleke withdrew his High Court application challenging his suspension and the unlawful dissolution of the RAL board by MEC Ernest Rachoene in 2024. In return, RAL…