German anarcho-libertarian Herman Hans-Hoppe believes peace and prosperity would be inevitable if only we were to end the State's monopoly on administering the law. And he provides a few interesting historical precedents where this actually happened.

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela says her team was frustrated and obstructed in their investigations into the R206 million Nkandla estate, built for President Jacob Zuma. The story played out this week in the courts and in the press. 

Dr Anthea Jeffery, head of special projects at the SA Institute for Race Relations, argues that South Africa's constitutional guarantees are being eroded by the ruling party, and new threats have appeared on the horizon.
 

Lobby group Afriforum has won a landmark case in South Africa against the Zimbabwean government, winning compensation for Zimbabwean farmers dispossessed during the infamous land seizures. This opens the door to further legal action, says Afriforum.

The DA has tried to get the police in the Western Cape to round up the ANC Youth League "poo chuckers" who have vowed to make the province ungovernable. The police have been derelict in dealing with what is clearly a criminal - not a political - matter.   

The Legal Practice Bill, which creates a unified legal council for both advocates and attorneys, has been attacked by the Democratic Alliance as "fusion by stealth". This bill seems likely to be challenged in court should it pass in its present form. 

Paul Hoffman SC of the Institute of Accountability in Southern Africa has filed a complaint of gross misconduct against the Chief Justice of South Africa, Mogoeng Mogoeng, over what is alleged are racist and sexist remarks that could lead to his impeachment.

President Zuma has signed legislation paving the way for the creation of high courts in all nine provinces, while a bill has been tabled for the creation of a DNA database to fight crime. 

The jury is out on whether it is ethically appropriate for lawyers to set up companies to take legal cases on risk and share in the spoils, as happened when Pretoria attorney Chris Schoeman and two partners took on a case for former Vodacom employee Nkosana Makate, who is claiming he came up with the "Please Call Me" idea that was adopted by Vodacom but never got paid for it.  

The reputation of the criminal justice system is in tatters following the repeated failures of the NPA in high-profile matters and prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach’s suggestions of abuse of power and political interference, writes Mandy Wiener in The Daily Maverick.