The Nkandla ruling by the Constitutional Court may represent a watershed event for South Africans. The court ordered President Jacob Zuma to repay a portion of the taxpayer money used to build his Nkandla private estate. The ruling also demonstrated to politicians that they are not above the law, and this is arguably the main outcome of this case. Eustace Davies of the Free Market Foundation looks at the implications of the case.

The judiciary has genuflected to Parliament's ongoing assault on property rights. As LLB student Martin van Staden points out, no society prospers where property rights are under attack. The result is inevitable: South Africans will continue securing their property rights in more hospitable climates abroad.

It is not too late for opposition parties to bring an application before the Constitutional Court challenging the suitability of Jacob Zuma to hold the office of president, says Paul Hoffman of Accountability Now. Zuma has demonstrated irrationality in transfering his finance minister and is fatally compromised as president.

The dagga trial gets underway in March this year, and it should be a trip! On the one side is the Dagga Party of SA, led by Jeremy Acton, and on the other the state. The Dagga Party argues that SA is out of touch with the latest research findings and the trend towards decriminalisation of the world's favourite plant.

The draft Expropriation Bill gives government the right to expropriate land in what it deems is the public interest, paying "just and equitable" compensation. The Bill has been attacked by the banking association and the SA Institute of Race Relations.

The National Credit Regulator will investigate hundreds of thousands of emolumernt attachment orders obtained by debt collector Flemix & Associates after a devastating judgment was handed down that makes it illegal to obtain such orders without a court hearing by a judge, according to Personal Finance.

Can a municipality sue for defamation? Bitou municipality in Plettenberg Bay thought it could after being defamed by two individuals in a previous court case. Judge Jeanette Traverso of the Western Cape High Court slapped it down.

The Cape High Court last week reminded Parliament that the Constitution reigns supreme in SA after the Speaker earlier this year called in the police to remove unrul Economic Freedom Fighters MPs. Parliament has appealed the finding, according to Mail & Guardian.

Three badly written laws are now before the courts for adjudication. One of these has been referred by the National Credit Regulator, seeking to establish whether repossessed assets sold at auction can be sold far below market price. The solution suggested is to set a reserve price.

The Reserve Bank took R250 million in levies off Mark Shuttleworth when he tried to move his funds offshore. Having challenged this in the High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal, he is now headed for the Constitutional Court. 

The Constitutional Court is being asked today to compel Parliament to pass legislation forcing political parties to disclose their sources of funding. The case is being brought by My Vote Counts which argues that the Constitution guarantees the public's right to information needed to exercise its rights.

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Democratic Alliance was within its rights to claim that President Zuma had stolen South Africans' money to build his R246 million Nkandla residence in Kwazulu-Natal.

Was there political interference in the suspension of Hawks chief Anwa Dramat? More importantly, was the suspension lawful in terms of the SA Police Services Act, parts of which were deleted by teh Constitutional Court late last year. The court will deecide on the matter this week.

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. 

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.

The Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of a woman who was to be evicted from her property after falling behind on her payments. The Court ruled that in terms of the Alienation of Land Act, she was entitled to have the property transferred into her name as she had paid more than half the purchase price.

What is a "pattern of racketeering" as defined in the Prevention of Organised Crime Act? That was what the Constitutional Court deliberated on recently in a case dubbed the "Amigos" trial. The Court dismissed the case which, incidentally, means racketeering charges against Julius Malema still stand.

The e-toll war got a whole lot bloodier this week with news that several court challenges are being launched to test the constitutionality of government's decision to introduce e-tolls from December. Not since the death of apartheid in 1994 has government faced this kind of opposition.

Despite the recent Supreme Court of Appeal victory for government over its plans to introduce e-tolls, the matter seems likely to go before the Constitutional Court. If this fails, mass civil disobedience will sink this ship, writes Ciaran Ryan 

Attorney SA Watson, an associate of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute SA, thinks South Africa is on a dangerous path. The Constitution, far from protecting us, turns “rights” into obligations and uses emotions and race to re-engineer society. 

SA must guard against the Zanufication of SA politics, writes Mamphela Ramphele. President Zuma's rush to endorse the disputed election in Zimbabwe, which saw Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF claim 61% of the vote, is a worrying sign of the general disregard for constitutional democracy that has taken root at home.

The rule of law is senior to the Constitution's Bill of Rights, says Free Market Foundation's Leon Louw, and is the pillar on which civilisation rests.

Mark Shuttleworth's Constitutional Court action to overturn exchange control is a fight we should all support, writes Chris Becker of the Mises Institute South Africa.