S v Van Vuuren

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Citation: 2005 (2) SACR 1 (CC)

S v Van Vuuren
2005 (2) SACR 1 (CC)

2005 (2) SACR p1

Citation	2005 (2) SACR 1 (CC)
Case No	CCT 14/05
Court	Constitutional Court
Judge	Chaskalson CJ, Langa DCJ, Madala J, Mokgoro J, Moseneke J, Ngcobo J, O'Regan J, Sachs J, Skweyiya J and Yacoob J
Heard	April 6, 2005
Judgment	April 6, 2005

Flynote : Sleutelwoorde

Court — Constitutional Court — Jurisdiction — Constitutional B matters — What constitutes — Complaint that criminal court erred on facts not, on its own, a constitutional matter.

Headnote : Kopnota

A complaint that a criminal court has erred on the facts does not, C on its own, constitute a constitutional matter and the Constitutional Court does not have jurisdiction to entertain such a matter.

Annotations:

Cases cited

Reported cases

S v Boesak 2001 (1) SACR 1 (CC) D (2001 (1) SA 912; 2001 (1) BCLR 36): dictum in para [15] applied.

Case Information

Application for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Judgment

The Court:

[1] The applicant seeks relief in respect of three sentences E imposed upon him by the magistrate's court in Nigel. These sentences arose from proceedings in the maintenance court concerning the applicant's failure to pay maintenance in respect of his two minor children.

[2] The application in this Court does not comply with the Rules. No specific relief is identified, nor, apparently, has there F been service of the application upon interested parties. We are prepared to overlook these defects for the purposes of this judgment.

[3] It appears from the papers before us that the complaint of the applicant relates to the factual findings made by the magistrate, which G

2005 (2) SACR p2

resulted in his conviction. The applicant sought leave to appeal A to the High Court, which was dismissed. He thereafter sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal. That Court, too, rejected his application. He now approaches this Court.

[4] This Court has jurisdiction only in respect of constitutional matters, or issues connected with a decision on a B constitutional matter. [1] The applicant does not raise any constitutional complaint in his application to this Court. He seeks only to draw this Court's attention to certain factual matters to which he asserts the magistrate did not pay due regard. It is clear from this Court's decision in S v Boesak [2] that a complaint that a criminal court has erred...