First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
As businessperson Andy Kawa continues her fight for justice following her gang rape, the Constitutional Court has heard that a heightened duty of care should be placed on the police to investigate gender-based violence cases diligently and carefully and to avoid secondary trauma.
“The ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system … sends an unmistakable message to the whole of society that the daily trauma of vast numbers of women counts for little.”
Quoting former Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs in her argument before the Constitutional Court, Nazreen Rajab-Budlender, counsel for the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), started her argument in a case that lawyers hope will win improved police investigative services for the survivors of rape and sex crimes.
A medical doctor and her patient, both of whom have terminal diseases, are leading the latest legal battle for physician-assisted suicide to be legalised.
An atheist advocate and doctor have added their voices to a crucial legal challenge to determine whether euthanasia should be legalised in South Africa.
5 February 2021 - Lee-Anne Bruce
CALS is set to present argument on secondary trauma and the duty of care that police have towards victims of crime, particularly sexual offences
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On Tuesday 9 February, the Constitutional Court is set to hear an appeal brought by activist and rape survivor Andy Kawa against the Minister of Police. The case centres on the police’s failure to properly investigate the crimes of kidnapping and rape perpetrated against Ms Kawa, and whether police should be forced to pay damages for their negligence. CALS has been admitted as a friend of the court in the matter.
In December 2010, author and entrepreneur Andy Kawa was abducted and brutally gang raped near King’s Beach in Port Elizabeth, a life-changing ordeal she documents in her recent memoir
22 January 2021 - Lee-Anne Bruce
The High Court today granted CALS leave to present evidence supporting the recognition of the right to die with dignity
On Friday 22 January, the Johannesburg High Court granted an application by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) to present expert evidence in a landmark case on assisted dying. CALS was previously admitted as a friend of the court in the matter brought by two individuals with terminal illnesses seeking to end their lives with the assistance of a doctor. CALS supports the right to die with dignity.
CALS welcomes today’s ruling by Judge Raylene Keightley of the High Court in Johannesburg, granting our application to present evidence in a case on assisted dying. The matter was first brought by two individuals with terminal illnesses, Dr Sue Walter and Mr Dieter Harck, in August 2017 against the Minister of Health and others. They approached the Court to ask that they be allowed to choose to end their lives with the assist