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Indemnity Act, 1961
The Indemnity Act 61 of 1961 was a law enacted by the apartheid government in South Africa, which protected the government from any legal repercussions of the Sharpeville massacre and other violent events that followed. It prevented the courts from hearing any criminal charges or civil claims against the government, its leaders or its employees for actions taken between 21 March 1960 and 5 July 1961. The act indemnified the State President, the Cabinet, all members of the civil service, the defence force, the police force, the railways and harbours service, the prison service, and anyone else acting under their direction. It applied to any actions taken, orders given or information published "in good faith" between the specified dates to protect public order, essential services, life or property. The act was precipitated by 224 civil claims for damages, amounting to approximately £400,000 ( R800,000), served against the Minister of Justice in September 1960 by victims of Sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of South Africa
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seventh Parliament was first convened on 22 May 2019. From 1910 to 1994, members of Parliament were elected chiefly by the South African white minority. The first elections with universal suffrage were held in 1994. Both chambers held their meetings in the Houses of Parliament, Cape Town that were built 1875–1884. A fire broke out within the buildings in early January 2022, destroying the session room of the National Assembly. The National Assembly will temporarily meet at the Good Hope Chamber. History Before 1910 The predecessor of the Parliament of South Africa, before the 1910 Union of South Africa, was the bicameral Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope. This was composed of the House of Assembly (the lower house) and the Legislati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Order
In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal because it is contrary to shared norms, social values, and customs. Robertson (1989:123) maintains a crime is nothing more than "an act that contravenes a law". Generally speaking, deviancy is criminalized when it is too disruptive and has proved uncontrollable through informal sanctions. Public order crime should be distinguished from political crime. In the former, although the identity of the "victim" may be indirect and sometimes diffuse, it is cumulatively the community that suffers, whereas in a political crime, the state perceives itself to be the victim and criminalizes the behaviour it considers threatening. Thus, public order crime includes consensual crime and victimless crime. It asserts the need to use the law to maintai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of South Africa
The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of the Government. The current constitution, the country's fifth, was drawn up by the Parliament elected in 1994 in the South African general election, 1994. It was promulgated by President Nelson Mandela on 18 December 1996 and came into effect on 4 February 1997, replacing the Interim Constitution of 1993. The first constitution was enacted by the South Africa Act 1909, the longest-lasting to date. Since 1961, the constitutions have promulgated a republican form of government. Since 1996, the Constitution has been amended by seventeen amendment acts. The Constitution is formally entitled the "Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996." It was previously also numbered as if it were an Act of Parliament—Act No. 108 of 1996—but, since the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Period Of Prescription
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In most jurisdictions, such periods exist for both criminal law and civil law such as contract law and property law, though often under different names and with varying details. When the time which is specified in a statute of limitations runs out, a claim might no longer be filed or, if it is filed, it may be subject to dismissal if the defense against that claim is raised that the claim is time-barred as having been filed after the statutory limitations period. When a statute of limitations expires in a criminal case, the courts no longer have jurisdiction. Most common crimes that have statutes of limitations are distinguished from particularly serious crimes because the latter claims may be brought at any time. In civil law systems, such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ex Gratia
(; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favour", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a payment made without the giver recognising any liability or legal obligation. Examples Compensation payments are often made ex gratia if a government or organization is prepared to compensate victims of an event such as an accident or similar but not to admit liability to pay compensation or for causing the event. * A company conducting layoffs may make an ex gratia payment to the affected employees that is greater than the statutory payment required by the law, perhaps if those employees had a long and well-performing service with the company. * An insurance company may make an ex gratia payment to customers if a claim does not meet the terms and conditions but the company chooses to make a voluntary payment out of kindness or compassion, wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minister Of Justice (South Africa)
The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services is the justice minister in the government of South Africa. He is the political head of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJCD), the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), and the Office of the Chief Justice. DoJCD is responsible for administrative support to the courts, oversight of the National Prosecuting Authority, the provision of legal services to departments of state, and law reform; and DSC is responsible for prisons and community corrections programmes. , the incumbent is Ronald Lamola, who was appointed to the position by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June 2019. His deputies are John Jeffery, who is responsible for the Justice portfolio, and Inkosi Patekile Holomisa, who is responsible for Correctional Services. History of the portfolio Correctional services was a part of the Justice portfolio until 1990, when extensive prison reforms were announced and a separate department and ministe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Rand
The South African rand, or simply the rand, ( sign: R; code: ZAR) is the official currency of the Southern African Common Monetary Area: South Africa, Namibia (alongside the Namibian dollar), Lesotho (alongside the Lesotho loti) and Eswatini (alongside the Swazi lilangeni). It is subdivided into 100 cents (sign: "c"). The South African rand is legal tender in the Common Monetary Area member states of Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini, with these three countries also having their own national currency (the dollar, the loti and the lilangeni respectively) pegged with the rand at parity and still widely accepted as substitutes. The rand was also legal tender in Botswana until 1976, when the pula replaced the rand at par. Etymology The rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand ("white waters' ridge" in English, ''rand'' being the Dutch and Afrikaans word for 'ridge'), the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. In Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Pound
The pound (Afrikaans: ''pond''; symbol £, £SA for distinction) was the currency of the Union of South Africa from the formation of the country as a British Dominion in 1910. It was replaced by the rand in 1961 when South Africa decimalised. In 1825, an imperial order-in-council made sterling coinage legal tender in all the British colonies. At that time, the only British colony in Southern Africa was the Cape of Good Hope Colony. As time went on, sterling and its associated coinage became the currency of every British territory in Southern Africa. At that time sterling followed the Carolingian monetary system of a pound divided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. History The pound sterling became the standard currency of the Cape of Good Hope colony in 1825 following an imperial order-in-council that was issued for the purpose of introducing sterling coinage into all British colonies. British coins then replaced the Dutch currency. Before a unified South Africa, many autho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Railways And Harbours Administration
The South African Railways and Harbours Administration (SAR&H) was established on 31 May 1910 with formation of the Union of South Africa by the amalgamation of the four colonial railways and all harbours in South Africa - about 11,000 kilometres of track. It would manage road transport and pipelines in South Africa. It also managed South African Airways from 1934 to 1997. It was reorganised and renamed in 1981 as the South African Transport Services (SATS). In 1990 it became Transnet. History Prior to the creation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910, South Africa consisted of four colonies of the Cape, Orange River, Natal and Transvaal. The formation of the union resulted in the railways and harbours of the colonies being amalgamated under one organisation. The Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways, and the Natal Government Railways were all fused by an Act of Parliament. The South African Railways and Harbours Service Act, 1912 made striking by railwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on ''baasskap'' (boss-hood or boss-ship), which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Indians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day. Broadly speaking, apartheid was delineated into ''petty apartheid'', which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events, and ''grand apartheid'', which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race. The first apartheid law was the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Police
The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Africa's transition to majority rule in 1994, the SAP was reorganised into the South African Police Service (SAPS). History The South African Police were the successors to the police forces of the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony in law enforcement in South Africa. Proclamation 18 formed the South African Police on 1 April 1913 with the amalgamation of the police forces of the four old colonies after the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The first Commissioner of Police was Colonel Theo G Truter with 5,882 men under his command. The SAP originally policed cities and urban areas, while the South African Mounted Riflemen, a branch of the Union Defence Force, enforced the state's wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence Force was officially succeeded by the SADF, which was established by the Defence Act (No. 44) of 1957. The SADF, in turn, was superseded by the South African National Defence Force in 1994. Mission and structure The SADF was organised to perform a dual mission: to counter possible insurgency in all forms, and to maintain a conventional military arm which could defend the republic's borders, making retaliatory strikes as necessary. As the military expanded during the 1970s, the SADF general staff was organised into six sections—finance, intelligence, logistics, operations, personnel, and planning; uniquely, the South African Medical Service (SAMS) was made co-equal with the South African Army, the South African Navy and the South African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
