Bringing Back the Death Penalty in South Africa for Crimes Against Women
September is the start of spring in South Africa, marked by warmer weather and blossoming trees. However, this September was marred by brutal xenophobic attacks and lootings, child abductions and...
Blurred Lines: When Free Speech Becomes Hate Speech
On the 27th of August 2019, the South African Constitutional Court (Court) heard its first substantive hate speech case in relation to statements made by Bongani Masuku, as Head of...
Historic South African Silicosis Class Action Settlement Approved
On 26 July 2019, the High Court approved a settlement between 20 goldmining companies operating in South Africa (including African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold)...
Innovative remedies under a flexible Constitution: A view from South Africa
As an undergraduate, the focal point of interest in a case was what happened in court. The judgment, and specifically the ratio; the facts, maybe the arguments from time to...
South African Supreme Court of Appeal Confirms Remedy of ‘Constitutional Remedy’ for Homeless People Whose Property is Destroyed by State
On 3 April 2019, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) handed down judgment in the matter of Ngomane & others v City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality & Another...
Let’s call ‘conscientious objection’ by its name: Obstruction of access to care and abortion in South Africa
South Africa has one of the most liberal laws on abortion and constitutionally recognizes reproductive rights as human rights. However, data shows important difficulties translating the legal norms into effective...
South Africa decriminalises the private use, possession and cultivation of cannabis
On 18 September 2018, after more than a decade of perseverance by Mr Gareth Prince, his efforts finally saw fruition: the Constitutional Court of South Africa decriminalised the use, possession...
Makangwane: A Fight for Effective Relief to Historic Injustice
Learners at Makangwane Secondary School in Limpopo, South Africa have for too long been deprived of their fundamental rights to basic education, dignity, equality and the protection of their best...
Is the restitution of land in the ‘public interest’?
In the wake of public hearings taking place around South Africa concerning the Parliamentary motion to review and amend the compensation provisions for the lawful expropriation of land contained in...
Affirmative Action in South Africa: The Urgency of Accounting for Historically Entrenched White Privilege and Power
In a recent judgement by the South African Constitutional Court, Minister of Constitutional Development v South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association, the court struck down an affirmative action policy,...
The bogey of judicial overreach in South Africa: A note on Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly
Discussions over the contours of the separation of powers principle in South Africa continue to smoulder. During President Jacob Zuma’s term, this dialogue was in overdrive mode. Recently, in Economic...
Reflections On The Rhodes University Travelling Fellowship
As one of two holders of the inaugural Oxford Human Rights Hub Travelling Research Fellowship, I have had the valuable opportunity to work in the Law Faculty at Rhodes University,...
