Upholding Democratic Taxation, Accountability, and Rural Democracy in South Africa
On 20 December 2024, South Africa’s Constitutional Court (CC) handed down judgment in Mohlaba v Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. The CC confirmed the High Court’s order of...
Where social and economic justice meet: South Africa’s SRD decision affirms a rights-based approach to poverty
Over eighteen million of South Africa’s poorest peoples breathed a sigh of relief when, on 23 January 2025, the High Court of Pretoria handed down judgment in Institute for Economic...
#CancelCoal: South African Youth Successfully Lead Climate Case Against Proposed Coal-Fired Power Station
On 4 December 2024, the High Court of Pretoria in South Africa (SA) handed down a landmark judgment in the “Cancel Coal” case. The High Court upheld a constitutional challenge...
Breaking Chains of Archaic and Patriarchal Tradition: High Court of South Africa Redefines Surname Rights for Marriages
On September 13, 2024, the High Court of South Africa in JJ and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Another (3626/2024) [2024] ZAFSHC 286 held that section 26(1)(a) –...
Women in Constitutions – Podcast Series
https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Compilation-Women-in-Constitution.mp4 Virtually all constitutions guarantee women’s right to equality, yet, there is a rise in backlash against legal, political, economic, social and cultural efforts to achieve women’s equality. This podcast...
Women in Constitutions – The South African Constitution with Dhaya Pillay
Oxford Human Rights Hub · Women in Constitutions – The South African Constitution with Dhaya Pillay Virtually all constitutions guarantee women’s right to equality, yet, there is a rise in...
The Aberdeen housing crisis: Cementing housing rights in Scotland
In February 2024, hundreds of residents of privately and council-owned houses in Aberdeen began being moved out of their homes after around 500 homes were found to have been constructed...
How flexible are South African courts’ remedial powers? A closer look at the Constitutional Court’s shifting approach to constitutional damages
In two 2021 judgments, Residents of Industry House and Thubakgale, the Constitutional Court of South Africa refused to award damages for human rights violations (‘constitutional damages’). The implications for the...
ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
For her upcoming report to the Human Rights Council to be presented in June 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Ms. Farida Shaheed, will consider...
The International Court of Justice’s Order in South Africa v Israel
This blog considers the case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) between South Africa and Israel. It summarises the court’s order, before looking ahead to the impact of the...
South African High Court Rules that Tribal Levies are Unconstitutional and Contrary to Customary Law
On 1 November 2023, the High Court of South Africa held that levies involuntarily imposed under section 25 of the Limpopo Traditional Leaders and Institutions Act 6 of 2005 (the...
Parental Leave, Equality and Dignity in South Africa: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
On 25 October 2023, the Johannesburg High Court of South Africa in Van Wyk v Minister of Employment and Labour [2023] ZAGPJHC 1213 declared certain provisions of the Basic Conditions...
