Courts around South Africa are battling a surprising divorce backlog. This is such a problem that a plan to fast-track annulments of more than 11 000 failed marriages in Limpopo alone has had to be devised. Limpopo is not the only province with a heavy load of divorce applications. The South Gauteng High Court heard 33 unopposed divorces last Friday.

Parental Responsibilities and Rights are under the spotlight today. The Children’s Act 38 of 2005 has attempted to focus our society and courts’ attention on the interests of the child which are paramount in any custody or contact dispute between parents.

 After being on a lock down for a substantial period, the South African economy is finally getting into the swing of things, however businesses have had to do some serious internal restructuring, which for some, unfortunately, include the retrenchment of its employees. Have employers followed the correct procedure as set out in the Labour Relations Act or are employers using the pandemic as an unfair advantage and hiding behind the pretext of “flattening the curve” ? 

Joe was the Captain of his local rugby team and have been so for the past three years, but suddenly everything changed when a fellow team member had maliciously told a false story to a local newspaper reporter who often visits the team. This resulted in a meeting with the Rugby Club’s manager and Joe was stripped as Captain and kicked of the team. It was only after talking to a friend that Joe realized he was the victim of “Defamation of Character”.

In the President’s address on 09 April 2020 regarding the extension of the lockdown, a disturbing note was South Africa’s shortage of medical protective equipment for healthcare workers to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. Thus, making it high risk for our “army” who are on the forefront of this pandemic, fighting against an invisible enemy.

On 26 March 2020 President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. While this was a wise and welcomed decision to protect the health and lives of our citizens but it also puts our economy and the livelihood of our citizens under strain. The Corona Virus is a global pandemic and as such it affects the ability of parties to perform in terms of their contracts.