CCT30/11

[2011] ZACC 37

2012 (1) SA 536 (CC)

2012 (3) BCLR 244 (CC)

(2012) 33 ILJ 93 (CC)

2013 (2) SACR 20 (CC)

Mogoeng J Majority Judgment

Froneman J separate judgment

Yacoob J separate judgment

15 December 2011

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12144/3642

Application for leave to appeal against the judgment of the SCA: Minister of Safety and Security v F 2011 (3) SA 487 (SCA). The case was first heard in the Western Cape High Court: F v Minister of Safety and Security and Another 2010 (1) SA 606 (WCC).

Application for leave to appeal against a judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal holding that the Minister of Safety and Security was not vicariously liable for the assault and rape of a young girl by a policeman who was on “standby duty”. This Court held that a sufficiently close link existed between the rape of the minor child and the policeman’s employment. The test laid down in the K v Minister of Safety and Security was endorsed and applied. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal was set aside and the Minister as held vicariously liable. Froneman J, in a separate concurrence, agreed with the outcome, but held that the Minister ought to have been held directly liable on the grounds that the actions of state officials are in effect the state’s own actions. In a dissenting judgment, Yacoob J agreed with the test applied by the majority, but held that there was not a sufficient link between the delict committed and the employment of the policeman. Judgment: Mogoeng J (Moseneke DCJ, Cameron J, Khampepe J, Nkabinde J, Skweyiya J and Van der Westhuizen J concurring). Separate concurrence: Froneman J. Dissent: Yacoob J (Jafta J concurring).