South African Judge Lays Down the Law on the Right to a Basic Education
In previous posts, Chris McConnachie has documented the rise and the successes of South Africa’s emerging education adequacy movement. In this post he analyses the movement’s most recent victory in...
South African Informal Traders Forum and Others v The City of Johannesburg and Others: A Promising Start by the South African Constitutional Court
Departing sharply from its normal procedures, the South African Constitutional Court recently issued what we in the States would call an “interim injunction” in a case pending before the South...
Grootboom and the right to housing: A (Virtual) Comparative Conversation between students at UNSW and Oxford
Students from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the University of Oxford recently demonstrated the potential of a virtual classroom as a medium for facilitating debate and comparative...
Investigating crimes against humanity – South Africa’s embrace of universal jurisdiction
“What business is it of the South African authorities when torture on a widespread scale is alleged to have been committed by Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe? It is that...
Investigating crimes against humanity – South Africa's embrace of universal jurisdiction
“What business is it of the South African authorities when torture on a widespread scale is alleged to have been committed by Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe? It is that...
The Mandela I Knew by Professor Bob Hepple QC, FBA
I hesitated when asked to say something on the sad occasion of the death of Nelson Mandela, because so many carpetbagging celebrities who had only a slight connection with him...
Lessons from the South African Constitutional Court: a duty of care for police in England and Wales?
Last month at the inquest of Rachael Slack, a 38 year-old woman stabbed to death by her ex-partner, the jury ruled that police failures had contributed ‘more than minimally’ towards...
Ready to Learn?
South Africa’s Legal Resources Centre (LRC) launched a new book—Ready to Learn? A Legal Resource for Realising the Right to Education—on 25 October at the Open Society Foundations in New...
Marikana Funding Decision – A Victory for Justice, Fairness and Equality
In the wake of the Marikana tragedy, during which 40 striking mineworkers were shot and killed by the South African Police Service (“SAPS”), the Commission of Inquiry subsequently established by...
Cultivating a Common Bond: The Right to Adequate Education in South Africa and the United States
As the newest wave of education adequacy litigation crashes upon the shores of South Africa, courts there face the enormous task of breathing life into a socio-economic right that is...
Spatial Justice in South African Evictions Jurisprudence
Apartheid’s legacy has entrenched patterns of spatial injustice in South Africa. Poor, overwhelmingly black residents are geographically concentrated in poorly serviced townships or informal settlements on the periphery of towns...
Developing the Customary Law to Give Effect to the Constitutional Commitment to Substantive Equality: Mayelane v Ngwenyama
The South African Constitution expressly provides for the horizontal application of the Bill of Rights, stating that these rights apply to all law. Section 39(2) also states that when interpreting...
