The Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act turned a decade old this week. By all accounts, it has fulfilled its promise of greater transparency and fairness in the marketing and sale of financial products.

The Supreme Court of Appeal has orderered Treasury to repay South Arican billionaire Mark Shuttleworth the R250 million in "levies" it charged him as he attempted to expatriate his funds. This is now headed for the Constitutional Court. 

Judge Thokozile Masipa has been the subject of ferocious attacks over her culpable homicide verdict in the Oscar Pistorius trial. This has placed the subject of judicial error under the spotlight, writes Trudi Makhaya. 

It seems the legality of the random Metro police stops on our roads is about to be tested in the courts. Apart from presenting police officers with opportunities for daylight robbery, these roads blocks result in traffic snarl-ups and huge inconvenience to the travelling public.

Public consultations into the future of e-tolling wrapped up last week with virtually unanimous agreement that the current user-pays system was not working and had to be replaced. Some Gauteng residents compared it to the hated apartheid-era pass book system.

Questions are now being asked as to whether President Jacob Zuma can survive the latest claims that he and the ANC received bribes from Frnech arms firm Thales in 2000. There are rumblings within the ANC that his presidency is a danger to the party's electoral hopes in 2016.

When Money Destroys Nations is a new book by two Johannesburg-based economists. If you ever had the idea that what happened in Zimbabwe cannot happen here, you owe it to yourself to read this.

BDS South Africa recently won a freedom of expression case against the City of Johannesburg and Continental Outdoor Media after its pro-Palestinian billboards were removed without notice, apparently following pressure from the Israel lobby. 

Insurance giant Discovery was ordered by the High Court in Johannesburg to pay the partner of murdered business tycoon Jeff Wiggill R11,5 million last month. Discovery had argued that Wiggill was involved in unlawful activities and there were suspicions that his murder may have been an assisted suicide.

Banks are resorting to grabbing money out of customers' accounts in settlement of debts but this is soon to become illegal. Here's how to handle the situation, according to Wendy Knowler at Consumer Watch.

Cracks are starting to appear in the ANC's commitment to e-tolls and the effect these are having on Gauteng's economic growth. There is a growing fear the e-tolls issue will hurt the party's performance in local government elections in 2016, according to the Saturday Star.

A new generation of Americans has been born into the 9/11 myth that has been used to create the warfare/police state, writes former President Reagan economic advisor and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts.

The Constitutional Court will rule this week on whether a pensioner from the Cape should be given leave to appeal against her eviction, according to Sapa.

An inquiry into the demise of African Bank is likely to turn some stones and reveal some worms. The last major inquiry into a banking collapse involved Regal, by the same Advocate John Myburgh who has been asked to look into African Bank. His brief is to investigate reckless behaviour, possible fraud and negligence.

A Johannesburg guest lodge was liquidated by Nedbank this week despite accusations of fraud and perjury. Why would the bank shut down a lodge over a R62,000 debt when its lawyers fees would be more than this? We decided to take a look.

Deon Oberholster - whose wife is fighting her sequestration in the Constitutional Court - was attacked at his home on Wednesday evening by a thug who warned them against pursuing an interdict application to stop the liquidators from coming near their property.

Joburg man Damon Greville is claiming R30,5 million in damages from Sasfin after the bank shut down his business in 2011 and then attempted to foreclose on his house. Earlier this year Greville successfully defended the bank's attempt to foreclose on his house, claiming his debt to the bank is already discharged and the bank in fact owes him.

Ian Brakspear's trial came to a close last week in the Durban High Court. There were accusations of a forged court order that was used to liquidate his company, West Dunes, and lengthy argument on whether the case was actually heard by a judge. Points were scored by both sides, but overall, it was a shocking display of South African justice at work.

Standard Bank has denied allegations of reckless lending to companies involved in so-called "reverse mortgage schemes." Borrowers using this system found they had to pay back up to six times the loan amount, and had title of their houses transferred to the credit provider.

Class action suits are a rarity in SA, but that appears to be changing. Two recent class action suits - one involving the so-called "Satinsky R699 a month car scheme" and another being brought by Transnet pensioners against their pension fund - have changed the litigation landscape.

The government is contemplating new laws to curb lengthy and violent strikes that are blamed for lowering SA's investment status and pushing the country into recession. 

Absa bank was handed a stunning defeat in the South Gauteng High Court last week when it attempted to obtain summary judgment against two home owners. The judge argued that Absa's failure to produce the original loan agreements - which the bank says was destroyed in a fire - meant the matter has to go to trial.

The downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine has been seized by foreign policy opportunists as an excuse to pin the blame on Russia's President Putin, when all the evidence suggests this was a ghastly accident, writes Simon Jenkins in The Guardian.

The US pulled out of recession more rapidly than Europe due in part to improved consumer spending. This in turn was due in no small part to more kinder bankruptcy rules, such as no-recourse mortgages in some states and the ability of insolvents to get back on their feet within months rather than years. 

Ian Brakspear of Durban has subpeonaed one of SA's richest men, Johann Rupert, to testify at his upcoming trial in the Durban High Court in August. He says Rupert came to acquire Brakspear's Cape wine farm following a fradulent liquidation of of his business.