California passes gay marriage Bill

California has become the first state in the US to pass legislation allowing gays to marry. The Assembly, reports The Washington Post, approved the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would allow marriage between two people rather than only between a man and a woman. The state Senate passed the Bill last week. Opponents of the legislation, including conservative Republicans, have argued that the law must be stopped because it constitutes another assault on the sanctity of the family. Analysts say the Bill puts Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hot seat. ‘I think it's a slam-dunk that he's going to have to veto the Bill and hope that the anger in the gay community doesn't spill over into other groups,’ said one.
Full report in The Washington Post

 

Supplied courtesy of Legalbrief Today.

 

Employers can't hide behind ignorance

Employers will no longer be able to use the excuse they did not know how to implement Employment Equity policies. This follows the publication of the new Code of Good Practice on the Integration of Employment Equity into HR Policy and Practice, Government Gazette No 27866, August 4 2005. This new code, reports The Star, spells out how the employer's EE obligations are to be integrated into its everyday human resources policies and practices. The code is comprehensive and covers numerous topics, including Implementing EE, Recruitment & Selection, Promotion and Transfer, Impact on Employment Equity and Harassment, among many others. Full report in The Star See latest changes to Employment Equity Act on IR Network site

 

Spouse, live-in lover claim same pension

The applicability of SA’s pension laws to a multi-cultural society is being tested, with Pension Funds Adjudicator Vuyani Ngalwana being called upon to intervene in a case where a spat broke out over the pension payout of a dead man who apparently had two wives, says a Business Day report. It says the importance of this case is that it focuses attention on companies that simply change their pension practices without informing the people affected. Shell was paying out the monthly pension of R3 615 to the widow of MP Mbuthu as the two were married under customary law. But in March last year, a second partner, SG Xaba, surfaced and claimed she had also been Mbuthu’s partner from 1998 until his death and that she had three children with him. Without telling anyone, including Mbuthu’s widow, Shell slashed the pension in half, awarding R1 807.50 to each woman. Although the rules allow for pensions to be split between two wives, Ngalwana said the first wife should have been informed when her payout was about to be cut.
Full Business Day report

 

Supplied courtesy of Legalbrief Today.

 

 

 

Law Society again challenges procedure over traffic fine arrests

Motorists, especially in Johannesburg, are being arrested or held illegally for outstanding traffic fines at police roadblocks, says Johan Gresse of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces in a Business Day report. ‘There has been an increase in the number of arrests for outstanding traffic fines with metro police adopting whatever method they feel fit, like throwing drivers in a bus for hours while the officer continues his work before they are driven to court,’ he said. Gresse has been involved in the past three years with a campaign launched by the Law Society of SA to make the public aware of their rights and to provide them with legal assistance. Johannesburg’s Metro police are continuing with the arrests despite civil charges being successfully laid against police who fail to follow procedure when arresting drivers at roadblocks. This is illegal, according to motor law expert Don Smart, who deals with about 1 300 complaints of this nature a year. ‘The Johannesburg Metro police blatantly ignore the law and the Constitution, they do not follow proper summons and warrant procedures,’ he is quoted as saying.
Full Business Day report  

 

Supplied courtesy of Legalbrief Today.

 

 

 

New strategy to fight rape

A national strategy aimed at fighting the scourge of r ape is to be piloted in at least three provinces by June next year, says a report on the IoL site. Advocate Thoko Majokweni, head of the National Prosecuting Authority's s exual offences and community affairs unit, says the inter-departmental strategy will develop a tri-pillar plan, focusing on prevention, responses and support interventions. ‘All of them have to respond on different packages of information. One of the key things for prevention is to determine why offenders offend and why victims are victimised. The reasons why people r ape, be they children or adults.’ Gaps in the criminal justice system also need to be identified, as well as what specific support r ape survivors need, such as anti-retrovirals, as opposed to other victims of crime. Research shows that in 2000, more than 52 000 cases of r ape and attempted r ape were reported, of which only 27% were prosecuted.
Full report on the IoL site

 

Supplied courtesy of Legalbrief Today.