Ben provides advocacy services (preparing and presenting legal argument) in the Superior Courts (the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court) and the Lower Courts (various district and regional magistrates' courts), as well as a variety of other tribunals and forums, including disciplinary committees, bargaining councils and Parliamentary portfolio committees.

Ben contributes considerable pro bono time to public interest litigation, helping to set landmark precedents in the fields of freedom of expression, access to information, anti-corruption, anti-discrimination, and protection from sexual violence. He has developed a reputation for integrity and ingenuity, with an aptitude for simplifying complex problems.

SIGNIFICANT MATTERS
 

Constitutional Court

• Qwelane v South African Human Rights Commission [2021] ZACC 22; 2021 (6) SA 579 (CC); 2022 (2) BCLR 129 (CC) and South African Human Rights Commission v Masuku [2022] ZACC 5; 2022 (4) SA 1 (CC); 2022 (7) BCLR 850 (CC): successful amicus interventions for the Nelson Mandela Foundation in landmark hate speech cases

• Hunter v Financial Sector Conduct Authority [2018] ZACC 31; 2018 (6) SA 348 (CC): amicus intervention for the Right2Know Campaign for an order that public bodies must investigate internal irregularities

• M&G Media Ltd & Others v Chipu NO & Others [2013] ZACC 32; 2013 (6) SA 367 (CC): successful challenge to a blanket ban on public access to the Refugee Appeal Board's proceedings, specifically concerning the Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir [read more]

Supreme Court of Appeal

• Zuma v Downer & Maughan [2023] ZASCA 132; [2023] 4 All SA 644 (SCA): successful defence of a High Court order for interim execution of an interdict against an abusive private prosecution of a journalist

• Afriforum v Nelson Mandela Foundation [2023] ZASCA 58; 2023 (4) SA 1 (SCA); [2023] 3 All SA 1 (SCA): successful defence of an Equality Court order declaring gratuitous displays of the pre-1994 South African national flag to be racist hate speech

• Zuma v Democratic Alliance and Another [2021] ZASCA 39; 2021 (5) SA 189 (SCA); [2021] 3 All SA 149 (SCA): successful defence of a High Court order directing former President Zuma to repay public funds spent on his legal fees

• Burmilla Trust v President of the Republic of South Africa [2022] ZASCA 22; 2023 (5) SA 78 (SCA); [2022] 2 All SA 412 (SCA): successful appeal against the granting of an exception to a claim for constitutional damages arising from the closure of the SADC Tribunal

• Magistrates Commission v Lawrence [2021] ZASCA165; 2022 (4) SA 107 (SCA); [2022] 1 All SA 321 (SCA); [2022] 43 ILJ 567 (SCA): successful amicus intervention by the Helen Suzman Foundation concerning the application of rigid racial quotas in the appointment of magistrates

• President of the Republic of South Africa v M&G Media Ltd [2014] ZASCA 124; 2015 (1) SA 92 (SCA): successful defence (upheld by the Constitutional Court) of a High Court order granting public access to a judicial report which found that Zimbabwe's 2002 elections were not free and fair [read more]

Equality Court

• Nelson Mandela Foundation v Afriforum [2019] ZAEQC 2; 2019 (6) SA 327 (GJ); [2019] 4 All SA 237 (EqC); 2019 (10) BCLR 1245 (EqC): successful application for an order declaring gratuitous displays of the pre-1994 South African flag to be racist hate speech

• The Chinese Association Gauteng v Henning and Others [2022] ZAGPJHC 590: successful complaint against several Facebook users concerning hate speech directed at people of Chinese race

High Court

• Mazetti Management Services (Pty) Ltd v Amabhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism NPC and Others [2023] ZAGPJHC 771; 2023 (6) SA 578 (GJ): successful urgent application for setting aside an ex parte order requiring journalists to hand over leaked source material

• Khosa v Minister of Defence & Others [2020] ZAGPPHC 147; 2020 (5) SA 490 (GP); 2020 (2) SACR 461 (GP); [2020] 3 All SA 190 (GP); 2020 (7) BCLR 816 (GP); [2020] 8 BLLR 801 (GP): successful urgent application to compel the security forces to adhere to the prohibition on torture and excessive force during the COVID-19 lockdown [read more]

• Lawrence v Magistrates Commission and Others [2019] ZAFSHC 269; 2020 (2) SA 526 (FB): successful intervention by the Helen Suzman Foundation as amicus curiae in a constitutional challenge against rigid racial quotas in the selection of magistrates [read more]

• Economic Freedom Fighters v State Attorney & Others [2018] ZAGPPHC 836; [2019] 1 All SA 681 (GP): successful review of State’s decision to fund private litigation costs of former President Jacob Zuma

• Koko v Tanton [2021] ZAGPJHC 383: successful defence against a defamation suit brought as an abuse of process for the ulterior purpose of silencing and punishing public criticism of a public official

• Right2Know Campaign v President of the Republic of South Africa [2018, Pretoria High Court, unreported]: successful application for public access to interviews for the National Director of Public Prosecutions

• KS v AM [2017] ZAGPJHC 297; 2018 (1) SACR 240 (GJ): successful appeal for an unprecedented order under the Domestic Violence Act entitling a victim of “revenge porn” to have the relevant content forensically removed from the perpetrators’ digital devices

• M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism NPC v Minister of Public Works [2014] ZAGPPHC 226: successful application for access to over 12,000 pages of classified records revealing R246 million in public spending on upgrades at President Jacob Zuma's private residence in Nkandla [read more]

• Combined Artistic Productions CC v Ketsekele & Others [2016, Pretoria High Court, unreported]:  successful application for an internationally unprecedented order permitting Carte Blanche journalists to use mobile devices to livestream court proceedings [read heads of argument]

• Helen Suzman Foundation v President of the Republic of South Africa & Others [2013] ZAWCHC 189; 2014 (4) BCLR 481 (WCC): successful challenge (upheld by the Constitutional Court) to provisions of the 2012 South African Police Service Amendment Act which undermined the independence of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (aka the Hawks) [read more]

• United Democratic Movement & Others v Tlakula & Another [2014] ZAEC 5; 2015 (5) BCLR 597 (EC): successful Electoral Court application (upheld by the Constitutional Court) to have the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission removed from office on the grounds of gross misconduct [read more]

• Motsepe v The State [2014] ZAGPPHC 1016; 2015 (2) SACR 125 (GP); 2015 (5) SA 126 (GP): successful High Court appeal overturning a journalist's conviction of criminal defamation for a series of investigative reports he wrote about alleged abuse of power by a regional magistrate [read more]

• Zuma v Various Media [2012-2013]: successfully securing the unconditional withdrawal of seven multimillion rand defamation claims brought by President Jacob Zuma against several newspapers, editors, a columnist and a satirical cartoonist (Zapiro) [read more] 

• Gupta Family v M&G Media Ltd & Others [2013]: successful exception to an unprecedented R500 million defamation claim filed as a class action by businessman Rajesh Gupta on behalf of the Gupta Family, arising from reports of alleged corrupt connections between members of Gupta family and senior political figures [read more]

Magistrates' Courts and other adjudicative bodies

• Verashni Pillay v Afriforum [2016, Press Appeals Panel]: successful appeal against a Press Ombud ruling that a news editor was guilty of hate speech

• Dan Roodt & Steve Hofmeyr v Conrad Koch t/a Chester Missing [2014, Randburg Magistrate's Court, unpublished]: successful defence (with a punitive costs award) to an application by two apartheid-denialists for a gagging order against a satirical puppeteer [read more]

• successful prosecution and defence of complaints before the Press Council of South Africa and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa

• successful prosecution of numerous auditors before the Disciplinary Committee of the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors 

Parliament and other deliberative bodies

• written submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice concerning the 2021 Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill

• written and oral submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice concerning the 2018 Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill

• written submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Police concerning the 2017 Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill

• written and oral submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications concerning the 2015 Films and Publications Amendment Bill

• written and oral submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works concerning the 2015 Expropriation Bill  

• written submissions to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry concerning the 2015 Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill 

• written submissions to the Davis Tax Commitee concerning the role of land value taxation in fostering conditions for South Africans to gain equitable access to land