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1]        This is a peculiar appeal. It does not involve as primary participants the disputants in the court below. Rather, it is an appeal by an amicus curiae, after the dispute in the court below was settled and an agreement between the litigating parties was made an order of court. The peculiarity is amplified because of an attempt by the amicus, before us, to extend the scope of the initial dispute. The appeal was pursued on the basis that the court below ought not to have acceded to the settlement agreement, as it offended against applicable legislation and the Constitution and that courts are thus precluded from authorising such agreements. The background culminating in the present appeal, which is before us with the leave of this court, is set out hereafter.