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.
The FW de Klerk Foundation’s submission on the SIU’s Draft National Corruption Risk and Prevention Framework points out the unconstitutionality of South Africa’s current anti-corruption framework and calls for urgent reforms.
Ismail Joosub outlines what the President’s declaration of Gender-based Violence as a national disaster legally means, as well as the pitfalls if the government doesn’t fulfil its strengthened legal obligation.
On 16 November, Elita de Klerk and Christina Teichmann attended a working dinner with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung on the occasion of the South Africa visit of Dr Gerhard Wahlers, Deputy Secretary General of KAS and Head of the Division for European and International Cooperation.
