It was a busy year for the South African legal fraternity.
The country’s courtrooms were inundated with cases that left many gobsmacked, others traumatised, and those with a penchant for drama begging for more.
From the horrific story of missing Joshlin Smith, alleged underworld figure Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala’s arrest, to the Please call me legal battle finally concluding, here is a round-up of some of the biggest court cases that made the headlines in 2025.
Racquel “Kelly” Smith (Joshlin Smith case)
It’s hard to forget the innocent smile and wide green eyes in the photos that circulated following the six-year-old’s disappearance. Sadly, it’s those very eyes and the complexion of her skin that reportedly made her a hot commodity for a sangoma she was allegedly sold to.
Joshlin disappeared from the family’s Saldanha Bay home in the Western Cape on 19 February 2024 and remains missing.
Her mother, Racquel “Kelly” Smith, Racquel’s boyfriend, Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis, and his friend, Steveno Van Rhyn, stood accused of her disappearance and faced charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.
During their first appearance in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court in March this year, the state alleged that Kelly instructed Appollis and Van Rhyn to sell Joshlin to another Middelpos man for R20 000 for muthi.
The two men apparently made this grim confession after a gruelling 36-hour interrogation at Saldanha Police Station.
Smith’s friend, Lourentia “Renze” Lombaard, was initially an accused in the case but later became a key witness for the state.
She provided crucial testimony during the trial in the Western Cape Circuit High Court sitting in Saldanha Bay, which helped secure the convictions against Smith, Appollis and Van Rhyn.
Judge Nathan Erasmus sentenced the trio to life in prison for human trafficking and an additional 10 years each for kidnapping.
They later unsuccessfully appealed their conviction.
Tiffany Nicole Meek (Jayden-Lee Meek case)
When an 11-year-old boy’s body was discovered on the staircase of a Fleurhof complex on 14 May – a day after he went missing – South Africans empathised with the boy’s parents.
The Fleurhof community had tirelessly and unsuccessfully searched for Jayden-Lee Meek the previous day, joining a mother in what seemed like a desperate search for her son.
But then a horrendous twist unfolded. Jayden’s mother, Tiffany Nicole Meek, became the prime suspect and was subsequently arrested on 11 June.
At the time, the 31-year-old was charged with murder, crimen injuria, defeating the ends of justice, and attempting to obstruct justice.
This is after police allegedly found blood on Jayden-Lee’s bed, school clothes and bag, and his schoolbooks following a search of the flat he lived in with his mother.
The authorities allege that Meek struck her son with a blunt object.
Jayden-Lee was found wearing only underwear and without a pulse at Swazi Complex, just a few metres away from his flat door.
He was declared dead on arrival at a nearby medical facility.
His mother has maintained her innocence, but was denied bail in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on 29 July.
Recently, counts of child abuse and neglect were added to her charges during her first appearance since her case was transferred to the Johannesburg High Court.
Her case continues on 26 January 2026.
ALSO READ: More charges added to Tiffany Meek’s case
Amber Lee Hughes
A 25-year-old former teacher was found guilty of rape and murder after confessing to drowning her former partner’s four-year-old daughter in a bathtub.
Amber Lee Hughes made a shocking last-minute confession after having pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her for the 2023 murder of Nada-Jane Challita.
However, she maintained innocence with regard to two rape charges and was found guilty of one.
Hughes confessed that she drowned the child – who was also her learner – due to her father Elie Challita’s alleged infidelity.
The shocking admission came a week after Hughes made a last-minute change to her legal team, forcing a postponement of proceedings that had been expected to reach judgment.
“I admit that I drowned the deceased, Nada-Jane Therese Challita, [on] 23 January 2023 by sitting on her, which had the result that she was submerged in the water,” the admission stated, according to News24.
Hughes reportedly further acknowledged that “after the deceased did not respond, I left her in the bathtub whilst the cold water tap was left running.”
The prosecution alleged that Hughes sexually assaulted the child by inserting an unknown object into her private parts on at least one occasion at their Glenvista home in the south of Johannesburg.
The court ruled that the state failed to prove anal penetration but found sufficient evidence for vaginal rape.
Nada-Jade’s father welcomed the guilty verdict but said that he was dissatisfied with the court’s decision not to uphold one rape count, describing the outcome as “two-thirds closure”.
He said that while the ruling brought some relief, it did not change the fact that his daughter had lost her life.
“That doesn’t bring my child back. Nothing will bring her back. So it’s a feeling mixed of anger and relief. It’s just mixed emotions,” Challita said
Hughes was convicted by the Johannesburg High Court on 28 August, and is expected to be sentenced in February 2026.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Court told self-confessed murderer Amber Lee Hughes had tumultuous upbringing
Nkosana Makate v Vodacom
Mzansi saw a 17-year-old legal battle come to an end this year, after Vodacom and Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate reached a settlement.
The former trainee accountant at Vodacom and the network provider have been at odds since 2008, when Makate launched legal proceedings.
The battle has since gone from court to court, even reaching the Constitutional Court.
After appeals and offer rejections, the two parties reached a settlement at the beginning of November.
Initially, Makate sought to be paid at least R9.4 billion, while Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub offered R47 million for the idea.
The settlement amount agreed by the two parties fell somewhere in the middle.
While they have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA), analysts have estimated the settlement to be around R660-million based on the mobile network’s shareholders’ and interim results released in November.
From the settlement, Makate will have to pay his legal funders, legal team and the tax man.
ALSO READ: Makate is trying to ‘disclaim his liabilities’, says legal funder
‘I take you as my wife… and your surname too’
The Constitutional Court ruffled some feathers when it ruled that husbands are now permitted to legally adopt their wives’ surnames.
The ConCourt confirmed that sections of the Births and Deaths Registration Act were unconstitutional, effectively upholding a lower court’s 2024 ruling.
The case arose after two husbands lodged a legal challenge, arguing that the law barred them from taking their wives’ surnames after marriage.
The first couple, identified only by their initials, married in 2021.
However, they were denied the husband’s request to assume his wife’s surname, as Department of Home Affairs officials indicated that the law did not allow it.
The second couple, Jess Donnelly-Bornman and Andreas Bornman, married in 2022 and experienced similar difficulties when trying to adopt a hyphenated surname combining both of their last names.
The apex court Judge, Leona Theron, found that the practice of wives taking husbands’ surnames is a colonial concept rooted in patriarchal norms, where women were seen to be inferior to men.
“This practice is largely a colonial import rooted in patriarchal norms where women were seen as legally inferior to their husbands and expected to assume their identity,” Theron said.
The judge declared the contested provisions of the Act invalid, stating that they “irrationally” violated section 1(9) of the constitution.
The ruling drew mixed reactions from South Africans, with some welcoming it and others ridiculing the concept.
ALSO READ: Husbands can now legally adopt wives’ surnames in SA, ConCourt rules
Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala
He’s been the subject of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System.
The man who single-handedly redefined the purpose of the Woolworths shopping bag, so much so that the retailer reworked it.
Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala, an alleged cartel member, has been remanded in custody after the Johannesburg High Court denied his second bail application, previously denied by the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court.
Matlala faces several serious charges, including the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend, socialite and former Muvhango actress Tebogo Thobejane.
Other charges are conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, money laundering, and defeating the ends of justice.
He is accused alongside his wife, Tsakani, alleged hitmen Musa Kekana and Tiego Floyd Mabusela, and Mabusela’s daughter, Nthabiseng Nzama.
Matlala was also fingered in the Thembisa Hospital corruption saga, where the Special Investigations Unit revealed that he benefited at least R13 million from procurement deals.
His company, Medicare24 Tshwane District, was awarded a since-terminated R360 million South African Police Service (Saps) health services contract in 2024.
It was flagged as a possible irregular expenditure in the first week of March 2025 and confirmed as irregular in May.
He remains behind bars at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility in Pretoria as he awaits trial, set to being in January 2026.
NOW READ: Cat Matlala denies being cartel member, but admits to being friends with alleged drug lord
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