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CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS

ARTICLE: THE DISMANTLING OF APARTHEID

2020-06-01

Apartheid illustration

 

There has recently been some debate regarding when, how and by whom apartheid was dismantled.   The “why” of the dismantling of apartheid is more complex: growing international pressure and domestic resistance undoubtedly played a central role.  However, other factors included the evolving attitudes of white South Africans; growing acceptance of the injustice of apartheid among white leadership groups; and the irresistible need to adjust policy to accommodate the de facto realities of an increasingly integrated economy and society.

 

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ARTICLE: THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT (EEA) AMENDMENT BILL, 2020 AND DEMOGRAPHIC REPRESENTIVITY

2020-06-01

Apartheid illustrationFew people would disagree with the Employment Equity Act’s goals of “eliminating unfair discrimination in employment” and ensuring equitable access to the economy for all South Africans. We need an open, equitable and non-discriminatory economy.

However, in its pursuit of these goals the EEA has now become a core tool in the ANC’s project to reshape society and the economy according to demographic representivity (DR).  The ANC’s objective has long been to ensure that DR is achieved in the private sector to the same degree that it is already a reality in the public sector. As Rob Davis put it in 2012 “We need to make sure that in the country’s economy, control, ownership and leadership are reflective of the demographics of the society in the same way that the political space does.”

 

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ARTICLE: AFRIFORUM v UNISA: THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN THE LANGUAGE OF CHOICE

2020-06-01

Apartheid illustration

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently handed down a well-reasoned judgment that underscores a critical number of core principles insofar as language rights and education are concerned in South Africa.
 
The South African Constitution is very clear on language rights in public educational institutions – including universities and schools. Section 29(2) provides that ‘Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable. In order to ensure the effective access to, and implementation of, this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account:
 
(a) equity;

(b) practicability; and

(c) the need to redress the results of past racially discriminatory laws and practices.’
 
The above is also reinforced by other provisions pertaining to language rights in the Bill of Rights, for example, the right to use the language of one’s choice (Section 30) and that persons belonging to a cultural, religious or linguistic community may not be denied the right, with other members of that community, to enjoy and use their language (Section 31(1)(a)).
 
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2023 FW DE KLERK MEMORIAL LECTURE

2023-11-13

I am very honoured to be asked to make a few comments at this second memorial lecture of FW de Klerk. I have been asked by Elita to do it, and I was asked by Dave Steward, FW’s close friend and associate, who is the chairman of the FW de Klerk Foundation in South Africa to make these remarks.

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CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES