South Africa’s Constitutional Court has the difficult task of deciding whether MPs can have the protection of a secret ballot when voting whether to fire President Zuma or not.
South African President Jacob Zuma is appealing a High Court ruling that he give reasons for his controversial cabinet reshuffle.
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President Jacob Zuma’s grounds for appeal are surreal. He invokes the meaning of a rule set by the apartheid context he ferociously fought against, to justify his executive action in a democracy.
Although South Africa has taken steps to rid itself of the apartheid-era view of marriage as only heterosexual and monogamous, discrimination against religious marriages persist.
Children from the Rainbow-Hill Christian school at former South African President Nelson Mandela house in June 2013.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
The clash over South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill is essentially about custom and constitutionalism. The government is often seen as pandering to traditional leaders’ whims.
Demonstrators protest outside South Africa’s Parliament in Cape Town against President Jacob Zuma’s firing of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Are those ANC members critical of Zuma willing to stand up and be counted? Will Pravin Gordhan, popular hero of the hour, provide one further great service to the nation?
There are fears a new bill that seeks to criminalise hate speech in South Africa might infringe freedom of expression.
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The growing incidence of racism on social media in South Africa suggests that there are consequences. Whether there ought to be criminal sanctions remains an ongoing debate.
Omar al-Bashir (centre, blue suit) at the infamous 2015 African Union summit in Johannesburg.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Arguably Africa’s most powerful diplomatic player, South Africa is now backing out of the world’s most important mechanism for bringing war criminals to justice.
South Africa’s public protector, Thuli Madonsela, was rated among the world’s 100 most influential people by Time.
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The public protector needs to be “fit and proper”. That means he or she must be honest, reliable and have integrity.These qualities cannot be assessed through an interview and background checks only.
Anti-rape protesters at President Jacob Zuma’s election results speech.
Beeld/Deon Raath
The ghost of ‘Khwezi’ – the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape in 2006 – continues to haunt him, just as the spectre of rape continues to haunt South Africa.
Mining companies are keen to get to work in underdeveloped, deeply rural parts of South Africa.
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Mining proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius arrives at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, for his sentencing.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Under South African law, murder carries a minimum sentence of 15 years for first-time offenders. But courts may deviate from this if they find ‘substantial and compelling circumstances’ to do so.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius speaks with his legal team ahead of his sentence hearing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa.
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Disgraced Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. You can find a selection of articles The Conversation has…
People queue to apply for social grants in Cape Town, South Africa.
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What seems to be a simple question of banks’ responsibilities is actually a major issue playing out where social security, banking, property, criminal and constitutional law intersect.
Any judicial review of government’s spending choices must contribute to transformative constitutionalism.
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South Africa’s Constitution enjoins government to act “reasonably” in ensuring that basic socioeconomic rights are progressively realised. But the government has limited resources.
There are several ways to defend a defamation claim in South Africa.
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Is it defamatory to ‘name and shame’ alleged rapists? Absolutely, according to South African law – and those who share that information on social media are liable too.
Kenya’s Supreme Court judges file into the chamber during the opening of parliament.
Reuters/Noor Khamis
The electorate and those involved in public governance should focus more on how judges are appointed. This is because they need to make sure that individuals of the highest quality get the job.
South Africa is slowly transforming the retributive Western criminal justice system it inherited from colonial times to incorporate African principles of reconciliation and reparation.
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The emergence of the restorative justice philosophy responds to the need to change South Africa’s retributive criminal justice system to accommodate African legal practices.
Students at Stellenbosch University call for Afrikaans to be scrapped as the institution’s main language.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
Those who don’t want Stellenbosch University to make English the main language of instruction have invoked South Africa’s Constitution - but the assumptions underlying their arguments are false.
Oscar Pistorius’ early release was a virtual certainty from the day he was sentenced.
EPA/Herman Verwey
Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for what was deemed a tragic accident. In light of that verdict, he has not been subject to any special treatment in terms of his sentence.