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A municipal council’s rules of procedure adopted under section 160 (6) (b) of the Constitution, 1996 are binding. A municipal council that adopts a resolution in breach of its own rules acts inconsistently with section 1 (c) of the Constitution, 1996.

A court order is not to be interpreted in isolation from the reasons given for it or from the circumstances surrounding its issuance.

When criticising a judicial decision, organs of state have a heightened duty to ensure that their criticism is reasonably related to the facts surrounding the decision and the text of the decision itself. While not necessarily contemptuous, gratuitous, ill-tempered or unfounded criticism of court decisions by organs of state will often be inconsistent with an organ of state’s duty under section 165 (4) of the Constitution to “assist and protect the courts” and to ensure the courts’ “independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness”.