Openness is a Human Rights Issue: Copyright Amendment Bill and Access to Educational Materials in South Africa
October 19th to 25th is International Open Access (OA) Week 2020. This year’s theme is “Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion”. The theme invites us...
South Africa calls for comments on progressive GBV Bill
Structural and legislative innovations aim to respond to gender-based violence plaguing South Africa. Recently, the “Victim Support Services Bill” (“Bill”) was presented for public comment. The Bill aims to address...
The Transformative Possibilities of a Constitution (with Joel Modiri and Gautam Bhatia)
Constitutions are the legal bedrock of many countries, but they’re also political, and are produced within a specific socio-historical context, much like any text. As much as Constitutions are there...
Is the prohibition and criminalisation of hate speech in South Africa constitutional?
South Africa celebrates more than twenty years of democracy based on democratic values, social justice, and protecting human rights. Despite this, racial tension and hate speech occurs with alarming frequency....
The Right to Nutrition and Basic Education: Ensuring Access to School Meals in South Africa
In Equal Education and Others v Minister of Basic Education, the organisation Equal Education and the school governing bodies of two public schools (“the applicants”), represented by SECTION27 and the...
Problems with prevailing defences for the repurposing of apartheid-legacy laws to discriminate against non-citizens
In 1964, the apartheid regime in South Africa introduced a new requirement for non-citizens seeking entry into the legal profession. To practice law, non-citizens had to acquire a permanent residence...
COVID-19 and Domestic Violence in South Africa
South Africa has been on state lockdown since midnight of 26 March 2020, in the government’s attempt to curb the spread of the Coronavirus and legally mandate South Africans to...
Covid-19: Crushing Silence Greets Calls to Top Up Child Support Grants in South Africa
Three weeks into an extensive national lockdown, the South African government has yet to announce any concrete economic relief for the country’s poorest households. This is notwithstanding compelling economic analysis...
Legal and Ethical Considerations for Forced Testing and Quarantine in the Time of COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African state has enacted regulations which allow for forced testing and quarantine. These regulations limit the rights of persons but are likely...
A duty to implement affirmative action/reservations for India and South Africa?
A recent Indian Supreme Court judgement, Mukesh Kumar & Another v State of Uttarakhand & Others, held that there is no right to affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the...
South African court rejects petition to award constitutional damages and extend emotional shock and grief claims in pit-latrine drowning case
In 2014, 5-year old Michael Komape tragically drowned in a sludge of human excrement when the pit-latrine at his rural school in the Limpopo province collapsed. While the Supreme Court...
High Court Victory upholding the Right to Education for Undocumented Learners in South Africa
On Thursday 12 December, the Makhanda High Court affirmed that all learners in South Africa have the constitutional right to a basic education and that the right cannot be denied...
