Since its inception in mid-2025, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, has provided a harrowing “X-ray” of South Africa’s law enforcement agencies.
South Africa’s 2026 Budget signals a significant increase in funding for water and sanitation infrastructure, but the real story lies in government’s attempt to fix the governance failures that allowed municipal systems to collapse.
Ismail Joosub examines President Ramaphosa’s SONA 2026 water reforms against the reality of South Africa’s deepening water crisis, arguing that governance failure – not natural scarcity – lies at the heart of collapsing services. It analyses the proposed national coordination, infrastructure investment and licensing reforms through a constitutional lens, assessing whether they can restore the right of access to water and reverse decades of municipal decline.
Ismail Joosub and Thando Malinga explain the role of the Municipal Demarcation Board and the Independent Electoral Commission in aligning over 27 million voters with new ward maps, why this administrative process carries democratic significance and what these changes mean for ordinary voters.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme was created as a constitutional instrument to widen access to further education and advance equality. Repeated governance failures have turned this promise into a cycle of administrative crisis that harms students and erodes public trust. The recovery of R1,7 billion by the Special Investigating Unit exposes a deeper failure in how a constitutional right is administered, making access to education uncertain and equality increasingly theoretical.
VVC v JRM clarifies how South African law treats couples who first marry under customary law and later conclude a civil marriage. The Court held this is one continuous marriage, not a new one. Rights and obligations from the customary marriage continue and property accumulated remains protected. Spouses cannot informally change proprietary rights; any change to the matrimonial property system requires court approval under section 21 of the Matrimonial Property Act. Interpreting section 10(2) of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act with the MPA, the judgment advances equality, dignity, the protection of property rights and legal certainty, protecting vulnerable spouses and creditors.
South Africans live with the consequences of municipal collapse every day – from water outages to uncollected refuse and crumbling infrastructure. The Foundation’s submission on COGTA’s Draft Regulations sets out how performance management can be rebuilt on constitutional values like accountability, openness and responsiveness. The Foundation proposed reforms that give communities a real voice, ensure lawful oversight, and create clear lines of responsibility so that municipalities can get back to delivering the services people depend on.
South Africa’s foreign policy must be grounded in the Constitution, guided by international law, human rights and principled non-alignment, and applied consistently without fear, favour or ideological double standards.
The FW de Klerk Foundation has submitted formal comments on the Draft Independent Police Investigative Directorate Regulations, 2025, and warns that key provisions threaten the IPID’s independence.
