scholarly journals From South Africa to Sri Lanka: Prospects of Travel for ‘Transformative Constitutionalism’

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-68
Author(s):  
Dinesha SAMARARATNE
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
The South ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Layered Approach ◽  
Post War

AbstractWhat lessons can we learn from the way in which the South African experience of transformative constitutionalism was invoked in Sri Lanka's recent constitutional reform experience? What conditions allow experiences of transformative constitutionalism to travel? In this article, I respond to these two questions, using Frankenberg's idea of a ‘layered approach’ in comparative constitutional law. My analysis affirms that in the comparative enterprise, a thick explanation that allows each experience to ‘speak for itself’ heightens the value of a comparative example. In the case of South Africa, I demonstrate that transformative constitutionalism is in fact a specific genre of constitutionalism. It demands attention not only to substantive constitutional guarantees and institutional design, but also to the process of constitutional reform. Moreover, effective measures for transitional justice are an essential component of transformative constitutionalism. A closer reading of the South African experience that paid attention to these factors would have led to better use of this experience in Sri Lanka's post-war constitutional governance.

The Importance of Conversation in Transitional Justice: A Study of Land Restitution in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (04) ◽  
pp. 902-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Atuahene
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The South ◽  
Communication Breakdowns ◽  
Land Restitution

One of the most replicated findings of the procedural justice literature is that people who receive unfavorable outcomes are more likely to believe that the process was nonetheless legitimate if they thought that it was fair. Using interviews of 150 people compensated through the South African land restitution program, this article examines whether these findings apply in the transitional justice context where it is often unclear who the winners and losers are. The question explored is: When all outcomes are unfavorable or incomplete, how do people make fairness assessments? The central observation was that the ability of respondents and land restitution commission officials to sustain a conversation with each other had the greatest effect on whether respondents believed that the land restitution process was fair. The study also contributes to the existing literature by exploring the institutional arrangements and resources necessary to facilitate communication and to overcome any communication breakdowns encountered.

scholarly journals Rapid and Successful Implementation of a COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Programme—The South African Experience

Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2050
Author(s):  
Tanya Nadia Glatt ◽  
Caroline Hilton ◽  
Cynthia Nyoni ◽  
Avril Swarts ◽  
Ronel Swanevelder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Antibody Titres ◽  
Investigational Therapies ◽  
Set Up

Background: COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) has been considered internationally as a treatment option for COVID-19. CCP refers to plasma collected from donors who have recovered from and made antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. To date, convalescent plasma has not been collected in South Africa. As other investigational therapies and vaccination were not widely accessible, there was an urgent need to implement a CCP manufacture programme to service South Africans. Methods: The South African National Blood Service and the Western Cape Blood Service implemented a CCP programme that included CCP collection, processing, testing and storage. CCP units were tested for SARS-CoV-2 Spike ELISA and neutralising antibodies and routine blood transfusion parameters. CCP units from previously pregnant females were tested for anti-HLA and anti-HNA antibodies. Results: A total of 987 CCP units were collected from 243 donors, with a median of three donations per donor. Half of the CCP units had neutralising antibody titres of >1:160. One CCP unit was positive on the TPHA serology. All CCP units tested for anti-HLA antibodies were positive. Conclusion: Within three months of the first COVID-19 diagnosis in South Africa, a fully operational CCP programme was set up across South Africa. The infrastructure and skills implemented will likely benefit South Africans in this and future pandemics.

Administrative Justice in Kenya: Learning from South Africa's Mistakes

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-128
Author(s):  
Cora Hoexter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
The South ◽  
Administrative Action ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Administrative Justice

AbstractThe wording of article 47 of Kenya's Constitution of 2010 is almost identical to that of the section 33 rights to just administrative action in South Africa's 1996 Constitution. Like section 33, article 47 mandates the enactment of legislation to give effect to these constitutional rights, and Kenya's Fair Administrative Action Act 4 of 2015 was strongly influenced by the equivalent South African legislation, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (PAJA). South Africa can thus be regarded as a sort of laboratory for Kenyan administrative justice. The aim of this article is to highlight some of the South African experience in relation to section 33 and the PAJA in the hope that Kenya will learn from some of South Africa's mistakes. It argues that the Kenyan courts should avoid following the example of their South African counterparts in allowing their mandated legislation to become almost redundant.

Intermediaries for Child Witnesses: Old Problems, New Solutions and Judicial Differences in South Africa

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Noel Zaal ◽  
Carmel R. Matthias
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Child Witnesses ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The South ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
High Court ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Implementation Problems

AbstractSouth Africa has utilised intermediaries to protect child witnesses and assist their communication in criminal proceedings in the magistrates' courts since 1993. is article examines some lessons to be learned from the South African experience. It provides an overview and assessment of attempts to overcome implementation problems and develop the legislation providing for intermediaries. It reviews contradictory solutions for improvement of the law recently put forward by the high court and constitutional court. Applying both the South African history and international standards, we argue that the high court offered a better way forward. We suggest some additional reforms which may also be relevant for advocates of the intermediary system in other jurisdictions.

Integrated Surveys: The South African Experience

1982 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Fisher ◽  
C. L. Merry ◽  
A. C. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Private Practitioner ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Present System ◽  
The South ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Control Survey ◽  
The Republic

In the Republic of South Africa it has been mandatory since 1927 to connect most boundary surveys to the control survey network. Copies of all survey diagrams must be examined and approved at the offices of regional surveyors general, and are used to keep the property maps up to date. In this paper the responsibilities and functions of the respective government agencies and of the private practitioner are described, together with the procedures typically involved in the subdivision of a parcel of land. The more significant mileposts leading to the present system are described briefly, and a critique of its strengths and weaknesses is presented.

scholarly journals Is God in Nigeria? Land dislocation and the challenge of confessing Belhar in Nigeria today

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin Akper
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Displaced Persons ◽  
The South ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
The Third ◽  
African Experience

Of the view that “in the land full of enmity, God is in a special way the God of the destitute and the wronged”, the essay explores the challenge of confessing the third article in the Confession of Belhar in Nigeria today. Nigeria has recorded a high number of displaced persons in the years between 1982 and 2016, who have been dispossessed of their lands and their hopes for better living standards. This situation has often been caused by the activities of radical religious activists. Also, a number of communal crises among ethnic nationalities especially in some parts of what can be described as northern Nigeria have added to the statistics of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). These destitute, many of whom are Christians, continuously cry out, hoping that God may intervene, and change their situations for the better, but seemingly to no avail. For some of them, it seems like all hope is lost. With such agonising situations among Christians, what sense will it make, “to preach” to them that “God is in a special way” their God? The essay examines this question by juxtaposing the Nigerian situation with South Africa’s past, when the Christians in South Africa confessed that God was still on their side amidst a seemingly hopeless situation. It also explores whether some lessons from the South African experience can be of any assistance or relevance to the Christians in Nigeria today.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation: Should the key notions be revised?: Experiences from South-Africa and Rwanda

Temida ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Heidy Rombouts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
Fact Finding

Both the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Gacaca tribunals, which started recently in Rwanda, are framed in terms of truth and reconciliation. But what does the truth mean? What does reconciliation mean? It can be argued that searching the truth has a very precise meaning - namely determining the details of what factually happened. And it is in this sense that most people understand the search for the truth. However it can be questioned whether this fact-finding is what the search for truth aims at in a context of transitional justice. .

scholarly journals Public works programmes in South Africa: Experience and the problem of their limited use

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Mduduzi Biyase ◽  
Norman Bromberger
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Works ◽  
The South ◽  
African Experience ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
The Government ◽  
Design Options ◽  
Better Than

South Africa is experiencing high (and possibly rising) levels of unemployment and poverty despite government efforts to reduce them. Public works programme (PWPs) is one of the strategies used by the government to tackle unemployment and poverty. The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of alternative specifications, or design options, which may be adopted —with some illustrations from cross country experience and some evidence about the comparative desirability of some of the options. And to shed some light on the South African experience in recent years with PWPs. The interesting question here will be what prospects there are for a successful expansion of the scale on which they are run and why these prospects are not better than they appear to be.

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