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SCL201 2018 1 b (36)

Skills Course for Law Students (University of South Africa)

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SCL1501/201/1/2018

Tutorial letter 201/1/2018

SKILLS COURSE FOR LAW STUDENTS

(SCL1501)
Semester 1

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This tutorial letter contains important information
about your module.

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Dear student
This tutorial letter contains feedback or comments on Assignments 01 and 02 of the first semester.

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FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 01 (UNIQUE NUMBER: 857181

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PART A

Question 1

Here you were required to find the “Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework
Act 41 of 2003" and provide an explanation on the following:

(a) Preamble:

 A clause at the beginning of a constitution or statute explaining the reasons for its en
actment and the objectives it seeks to attain. (Read item 3.3.2 on page 38 of the
Study Guide)

“WHEREAS the State, in accordance with the Constitution, seeks to set out a
national framework and norms and standards that will define the place and role of
traditional leadership within the new system of democratic governance…”

(b) Date of assent

 Date on which the President signs a specific version of the Act after it has been
approved by Parliament. The signing happens before the Act is published.

11 December 2003.

(c) Date of effect

 This is also referred to as the date of “coming into force” or “date

of commencement.” It is a process by which legislation and/or other legal
instruments come to have legal force and effect. Coming into force generally
includes publication in the Government Gazette.

19 December 2003.

Question 2
(a) Lady Zamar will be able to institute an action in the Small Claims Court. These courts
were introduced in 1985. They allow people to go to court without lawyers for civil claims
of not more than R15 000. Very few documents are needed. No lawyers are allowed. It

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SCL1501/201

is very cheap to go to Small Claims Court because people can bring or defend the
cases themselves.

(b) Civil case. A civil case is usually brought by a person (called the “plaintiff”) who feels
that he or she has been wronged by another (called the “defendant”). If the plaintiff wins
the case, the defendant will be ordered by the court to pay compensation. A civil case
(or a delict) is thus, a wrong against an individual for which the wrongdoer must pay
compensation to the wronged person. Lady Zamar is the wronged person in this
instance, she will thus be the plaintiff and Dr Rackzen will be the defendant.

Question 3
(a) The concepts of “praxis” and “learning” are dealt with in Learning Unit 2 (pages 16 - 17
of the Study Guide). Both learning and praxis are premised on the notion of “subjective
being” (see page 17 of the Study Guide). In terms of these concepts, no meaningful
learning or praxis can ever take place if students do not carry themselves as “subjective
beings”. Otherwise, they will behave like unthinking or uncritical beings (non-human
beings) whose minds can at best memorise, which is not really different from the robotic
nature of parrots.

A key factor for a subjective being is the ability to reflect. That is why “praxis” is said to
encompass “action and reflection”, and therefore becomes a reflective practice. The
above extract (by Kgalema Motlanthe) is centred on this important aspect that
characterises human beings. According to Motlanthe, reflection is the main element that
separates human beings from robots and parrots. It is in this context that he emphasises
the point that in the absence of (self)reflection, individuals are no different from non-
human beings (e.g. robots and parrots). In other words, we lose our personhood and
become “depersonalised”. Indeed, a robotic or parrotic mind cannot
question/interrogate, take ownership of information, relate facts to relevant authentic or
practical situations and engage/dialogue on the information (see bullet point on page 17
of the Study Guide). Note that this question has no right or wrong answer, provided that
your discussion addresses the question. It should be clear from the answer that you
understand the notion of “banking education”. See item 2.2.3 (page 17) of the Study
Guide.

(b) Paulo Freire is highly opposed to education that promotes a mere absorption of
knowledge, information or facts without critical engagement thereof, and application to
relevant lived realities. He argues that this kind of education makes the student nothing
more than a sponge or consumer of facts. He likens this education/learning approach to
“banking education” because, as in a bank situation, facts are deposited in the student’s
brain with the view to withdraw them at relevant times for use, such as during tests and
examinations. He champions the kind of education practice that integrates
theory/reflection and practice/action, which he refers to as “praxis”. There is no
meaningful learning without reflection. However, as Kgalema Motlanthe argues in the
extract, only a subjective being (complete human being with a mind, experiences and
values) can engage in praxis or meaningful learning.

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There is an emphasis on the student’s ability to question/interrogate and apply the

information to his/her real-life situation. As Motlanthe says, without a sense of
critique/critical reflection, students will reduce themselves to the level of parrots and
robots. Read Learning Unit 2 (pages 16-17) of the Study Guide.

Question 4

Item/service Fees Costs/Expenses

Letters received R742.50

Letters written R859.50
Stamps/Postage R64.13
(R56.25 + vat @14%)
Affidavit R1192.50
1½ pages : 2xR79.50 =R159
2½ pages: 3xR79.50= R238.50
4½ pages: 5xR79.50= R397.50
4½ pages: 5xR79.50= R397.50
Telephonic consultation R1165.50
23 min: 3xR129.50= R388.50
11½ min: 2xR129.50= R259
36 min: 4x129.50= R518
Consultation R6762
33 min: 2xR966= R1932
2½ hrs: 5xR966=R4830
Advocate’s fees R1715.70
(R1505.00 + vat @14%)
Orthopaedic Surgeon R8376.15
(7347.50 + vat @14%)
Total=R10 722 Total=R10 155.98

Vat @ 14% R1501.08

= R12 223.08
+ Expenses R10 155.98
TOTAL DUE R22 379.06

Question 5

Mobara: 20/100 x 286 000 = 57 200

Lebese: 35/100 x 243 000 = 85 050
85 050 – 57 200 = 27 850
Lebese must pay Mobara an amount of R27 850.

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SCL1501/201

PART B: COURT OBSERVATION

This part of your Assignment 01 required you to personally visit a court of law and observe a real
court case. The purpose of this part of the assignment is to expose you, as a law student, to a
real court environment. There is no single answer or response that was expected from you in
dealing with the set questions because individual students observed different matters in various
courts across the country, or even across the world! We will not mark this part of the
assignment if the last page of the observation sheet is not completed by the clerk of the
court (or the Registrar) as instructed: signature, date and the stamp.

However we want to make the following remarks in relation to the various questions:

5. Here, with reference to the court case you have observed, you have to give reasons why you
think the case is a criminal or civil matter (depending on your response for question 4).

6. Here you must indicate who were the parties the in dispute, state who was a plaintiff and
defendant or appellant and respondent or State/prosecutor and defendant.

7. Here we expected you to give a short description of what the matter or issue before the
court was. It will not be sufficient for you to merely say: “theft” or “bail”.

8. As regards this item, pay attention to the meaning of “legal actors” as discussed in Learning
Unit 5 of your study guide.

9. “Non-verbal communication” is discussed in Learning Unit 4 (see item 4.2 on pp 57-59) of

your study guide. In answering this question you could, for instance, have referred to how the
defence attorney used eye contact and facial expressions when emphasizing a point or trying
to persuade the presiding officer (judge/magistrate).

10. For explanations on the various aspects or stages of the litigation process, please refer to
item 4.6 (pp. 70-73) of your study guide. What is important here is what you have observed in
court especially with regard to how these aspects were conducted by different legal actors.

11. There are those cases that might have not been concluded on the day(s) you went for the
observation. Here, you have to state what the magistrate / judge decided on that particular
day. For example, “the magistrate postponed the matter to enable the state to gather more
evidence etc.”

12. Here we expected you to comment on the performance of the legal actors. We further
expected you to provide personal reflections/analysis on your experience (perhaps on
something that you found interesting or unexpected, or boring), including a commentary on
whether your expectations from the course readings were changed or confirmed.

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FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 02 (UNIQUE NUMBER: 672182

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Question 1. The correct statement is option 3. Read the introduction portion of your study guide.

Question 2. The incorrect statement is option 1. Read the “the concept of law” under item 1.2
(page 7) of your study guide.

Question 3. The correct statement is option 2. Read the “concept of studying” under item 2.2.2
(page 16) of your study guide.

Question 4. The correct statement is option 3. Read item 2.2.3 (pp 16-17) of the study guide.

Question 5. The correct statement is option 4. This question relates to item 5.2 (page 76) of your
study guide.

Question 6. The correct statement is option 3. Open question. See item 4.4.3 (page 63) of your
study guide.

Question 7. The correct statement is option 1. This question relates to item 4.6.1 (c) (page73) of
your study guide.

Question 8. The correct statement is option 3. Read under item 3.3.2 (a) (page 38) of your study
guide.

Question 9. The correct statement is option 4. Read under item 3.3.2 (b) and (c) (page 38) of
your study guide.

Question 10. The correct statement is option 4. Read item 3.4.2.1 (page 41) of your study guide.

Question 11. The correct statement is option 3. See item 3.4.3 ((iv) (page 47) your study guide.

Question 12. The correct statement is option 3. Again read the information under item 3.3.4 (x)
(page 51) of your study guide.

Question 13. The correct statement is option 4. See item 3.4.3 ((viii) (page 49) your study guide.

Question 14. The correct answer is option 3. Again read the information under item 3.4.3 (viii)
(page 49) your study guide

Question 15. The correct statement is option 3. See item 3.5 (pp 52-55) of your study guide.

Question 16. The correct statement is option 4. Refer under item 6.11 (page 97) of your study
guide.

Question 17. The correct statement is option 4. Read under item 3.4.2.5 of your study guide for
guidance.

Question 18. The correct statement is option 3. See activity 5.6 (page 83) of your study guide.
6

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SCL1501/201

Question 19. The correct statement is option 1. Read item 6.7, example 2 (page 95) of your
study guide.

Question 20. The correct statement is option 3. Read item 6.12 (page 98) of your study guide.

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FORMAT OF YOUR EXAMINATION PAPER

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As indicated in paragraph 8.1 of Tutorial Letter 101/3/2018, the total marks for the SCL1501
examination will be 100, which mark will be adapted to 80. The paper comprises five sections, to
cover all the learning units in this module. There are no so-called “multiple choice” questions.
However, the paper takes a fill-in format, in which sense you are expected to write your answers
on the spaces provided in the examination book. Thus, the examination book comprises the
question paper and the answer sheet. The mark allocation for the various sections is as follows:

 Section 1 (Law and study skills): 25 marks

 Section 2 (Numeric skills): 15 marks
 Section 3 (Communication/Litigation skills): 25 marks
 Section 4 (Legal actors): 10 marks
 Section 5 (Reading legal texts): 25 marks

Best wishes

FRANS MAHLOBOGWANE (Mr)

KGAGUDI MOROTA (Mr)
DAVID LETSOALO PRETORIA

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