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.
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Articles on South African law
Displaying 121 - 138 of 138 articles
A civil society organisation, OGOD, wants South Africa’s public schools to stop calling themselves Christian and to outlaw their religious practices.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.
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.
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…
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.
South Africa’s Constitution enjoins government to act “reasonably” in ensuring that basic socioeconomic rights are progressively realised. But the government has limited resources.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor Emeritus of Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor of Law, New York Law School
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Postdoctoral fellow, University of Cape Town
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Professor of Legal Pluralism, Religious Family Laws, and Human Rights, University of Cape Town
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Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
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Claude Leon Foundation Chair in Constitutional Governance, University of Cape Town
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Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa
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Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Fort Hare
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Executive Dean and Full Professor, Faculty of Management and Law, University of Limpopo
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Professor of Digital Society, University of Glasgow
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Assistant Professor, School for Global Inclusion and Social Development, UMass Boston
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Professor of Political Studies, University of Johannesburg
