Weapons Act challenge in court

2010-02-15 19:10

Johannesburg - The Constitutional Court will decide whether part of a law restricted to the Transkei is valid when it sits in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

This followed the conviction and sentence of Kholekile Thunzi and Siyabulela Mlonzi in district magistrate's courts in the region under the Dangerous Weapons Act in the Transkei.

The Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha declared on February 18 that two sections of the Act were invalid because the provisions did not apply in the rest of South Africa.

The High Court found that parts of this law amounted to unfair discrimination on the grounds of territorial or geographical considerations because it distinguished between perpetrators in the former Transkei and perpetrators in the rest of South Africa.

The respondents are the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Eastern Cape and the minister for justice and constitutional development
.
The parties differ with regard to the status of the Act, the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court to confirm the High Court's declaration of invalidity and the question of remedy for other people still serving sentences under section 4 of the act.

- SAPA