scholarly journals CONFLICT BETWEEN PARTICIPATORY AND REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: A CALL FOR MODEL LEGISLATION ON PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE LAW-MAKING PROCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Obiter ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Retselisitsoe Phooko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Law Making

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 19961 mandates legislatures at various levels of government to ensure public participation in the law-making process. The Constitution, however, does not map out the parameters of public participation as far as the law-making process is concerned. Thus, a number of questions remain largely unanswered. For instance, does public participation merely constitute consulting with the people? Does it, perhaps, go as far as to require the legislature to consider the views of the people? Supposing the views of the people are considered, does public participation suggest that the end results of the consultation process should reflect the views of the people? As the answers to the foregoing questions are far from conclusive, the aim of this paper is to critically examine the nature of the relationship between participatory and representative democracy in the law-making process in order to ascertain how the courts have resolved conflicts that involve the previously mentioned forms of democracy. This will be done through examining various court cases in which their own elected representatives disregarded the views of the electorate. The argument presented in this paper is that participatory and representative democracies are in conflict with each other. The paper further advocates for the adoption of model legislation on public participation in the law-making process.

scholarly journals WHAT SHOULD BE THE FORM OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE LAWMAKING PROCESS? AN ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFRICAN CASES

Obiter ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Retselisitsoe Phooko
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Making

South Africa’s new constitutional democracy places a duty on various legislators to facilitate public participation in the law-making process as mandated by the principles of participatory democracy provided for in the Constitution of South Africa, 1996. This has resulted in a series of court cases wherein the electorate, inter alia, challenged the legislation on the basis that the results did not reflect the views of the people. The courts’ earlier jurisprudence seemed to be placing more emphasis on participatory democracy as opposed to representative democracy. However, recent court decisions indicate a shift towards representative democracy. The central question presented in this paper is whether the consideration of the views of the public by the provincial and national legislatures is merely a matter of procedure, or that those views are indeed considered in the law-making process. In an attempt to answer this question, the paper will evaluate and critique some of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal decisions on public involvement in either the legislative or law-making process. The argument presented in this discourse is that, if the public’s wishes are considered by the legislature, then the outcome would be influenced by the people’s demands. An otherwise negative outcome shows that public participation in the law-making process is a procedural matter and has no substantive value.

scholarly journals An assessment of the constitutionality of the COVID-19 regulations against the requirement to facilitate public participation in the law-making and/or administrative processes in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Ntokozo Sobikwa ◽  
Moses Retselisitsoe Phooko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
Law Making

The purpose of this article is to critically assess the constitutionality of the COVID-19 regulations against the backdrop of the constitutional mandate to facilitate public participation in the law-making process in South Africa. This assessment is conducted by outlining the scope and content of public participation. This will be followed by an exposition of the legal framework that provides for the duty to facilitate public participation in South Africa. Thereafter, the scope and content of the duty to facilitate public participation is assessed against the conduct of the government in promulgating the COVID-19 regulations. The authors argue that the disregard for and limited nature of public participation during the process leading up to the enactment of the COVID-19 regulations amount to a material subversion of the core tenets of our constitutional democracy and largely renders the COVID-19 regulations unconstitutional for lack of procedural compliance with the demands of the Constitution. The authors provide a few recommendations to remedy the unconstitutionality of the regulations and further propose guidelines to facilitate public participation in cases of future pandemics and/or disasters of this nature.

A Call for Public Participation in the Treaty-making Process in South Africa: What can South Africa Learn from the Kingdom of Thailand?

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Retselisitsoe Phooko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Legal Implications ◽  
Future Situation ◽  
Rules Of Procedure ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Personal Jurisdiction

On 2 August 2002 South Africa signed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof, thus effectively recognising and accepting the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal. Among the cases received by the SADC Tribunal was a complaint involving allegations of human rights violations by the government of Zimbabwe. It ruled that the government of Zimbabwe had violated human rights. Consequently, Zimbabwe mounted a politico-legal challenge against the existence of the Tribunal. This resulted in the review of the role and functions of the Tribunal in 2011 which resulted in the Tribunal being barred from receiving new cases or proceeding with the cases that were already before it. Furthermore, on 18 August 2014, the SADC Summit adopted and signed the 2014 Protocol on the Tribunal in the SADC which disturbingly limits personal jurisdiction by denying individual access to the envisaged Tribunal, thus reducing it to an inter-state judicial forum. This article critically looks at the decision of 18 August 2014, specifically the legal implications of the Republic of South Africa’s signing of the 2014 Protocol outside the permissible procedure contained in article 37 of the SADC Protocol on the Tribunal. It proposes that South Africa should correct this democratic deficit by introducing public participation in treaty-making processes in order to prevent a future situation where the executive unilaterally withdraws from an international treaty that is meant to protect human rights at a regional level. To achieve this, this article makes a comparative study between South Africa and the Kingdom of Thailand to learn of any best practices from the latter.

Judicial Legislation

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Oliver Aylmerton
Keyword(s):  
Judicial System ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Central Topic ◽  
The People ◽  
Parliamentary Debate ◽  
The Law ◽  
Elected Representatives

The author describes the main characteristics of the English judicial system and its methodology. A central topic is the so-called judicial legislation, as is illustrated by the developing case lawwith respect to the tort of negligence. The method has the twin advantages of flexibility and pragmatism and it also has the advantages of speed. But there is a minus side also. First, the development of the law in this way can only be achieved at the expense of certainty. Secondly, it involves the alteration of the law, sometimes a quite radical alteration, without any extensive consideration of the practical and economic results such as would take place in the course of parliamentary scrutiny and debate. Judges are not the elected representatives of the people and the methodology of English Judges which results in the development and alteration of the law without the benefit of parliamentary debate may not perhaps be altogether a satisfactory democratic process to a constitutional purist.

scholarly journals Rural Development within the Context of Development, Sustainability and Rural Issues – Some Constitutional, Policy and Implementation Perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Nic Olivier ◽  
Carin Van Zyl
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
Rural Development Programme ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
The People ◽  
The Republic

This article provides an overview of some developments, internationally, regionally and in the SADC, in relation to development, that may be expected to influence the South African government’s response to the development needs of the people in the country.  An overview is provided of the somewhat haphazard way in which the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 refers to the need for and objective of development (including rural development) in the country.  Through their explanatory outline of three distinct phases in South African rural development law and policy: 1994–2000 (the Reconstruction and Development Programme and related documents and their implementation); 2000–April 2009 (the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy and its implementation) and April 2009+ (the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme and related documents), the authors review some of the historical strengths and future prospects related to rural development in South Africa.  Based on an assessment of historical trends, a number of recommendations are made for government’s way forward in the implementation of the constitutional objectives, law and policy relevant to rural development in the country.

scholarly journals MENYIKAPI GLOBALISASI HUKUM TANAH DENGAN KEARIFAN LOKAL

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Rina Rohayu H
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Land Law ◽  
Legal Intervention ◽  
The People ◽  
The Law ◽  
Globalization Of Law ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Customary Land

Land given to and owned by people with rights provided by the UUPA is to be used and utilized. The granting and possession of land with these rights will not be meaningful if its use is limited to land as the surface of the earth. The land also has a significant role in the dynamics of development. According to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia NRI,  "earth and water are natural resources contained therein controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the people." This research uses a normative juridical approach that is research based on the rules / according to the law because this research focused on the use of document studies and literature or secondary data. The research specification used is descriptive-analytic, which describes the law of the land in the era of globalization based on local wisdom. The results of the study illustrate that the role of the land ruling state, which used for the prosperity of the people, is regulated under Law No. 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Regulations on Agrarian Principles (UUPA).On the other hand, the globalization of law is nothing more than a legal intervention from developed countries towards developing countries in order to adjust their laws globally. One way to address the problem of globalization of land law is to reaffirm local wisdom. In other words, they are upholding the customary provisions related to land. Example: provisions of customary land. Customary land is communal land that is jointly owned and thus does not need to be certified.Keywords: globalization, land law, local wisdomABSTRAKTanah diberikan kepada dan dipunyai oleh orang dengan hak-hak yang disediakan oleh UUPA, adalah untuk digunakan dan dimanfaatkan. Diberikannya dan dipunyainya tanah dengan hak-hak tersebut tidak akan bermakna, jika penggunaannya terbatas hanya pada tanah sebagai permukaan bumi saja. Tanah juga mempunyai peranan yang besar dalam dinamika pembangunan. Undang-undang Dasar 1945 menjelaskan bahwa “Bumi dan air dan kekayaan alam yang terkandung didalamnya dikuasai oleh negara dan dipergunakan untuk sebesar-besar kemakmuran rakyat.” Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan yuridis normatif yaitu penelitian yang didasarkan kepada kaidah-kaidah/menurut hukum, oleh karena penelitian ini dititik-beratkan pada penggunaan studi dokumen dan bahan pustaka atau data sekunder. Spesifikasi penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif analitis yang menggambarkan tentang hukum tanah di era globalisasi berdasarkan kearifan lokal. Hasil penelitian menggambarkan bahwa peran negara penguasa tanah yang digunakan untuk kemakmuran masyarakat diatur berdasarkan Undang-undang No. 5 tahun 1960 tentang Peraturan Dasar Pokok-Pokok Agraria (UUPA). Disisi lain, globalisasi hukum tak lebih sebagai intervensi hukum dari negara maju terhadap negara berkembang agar menyesuaikan hukumnya secara global. Salah satu cara menyikapi persoalan globalisasi hukum tanah ini adalah dengan menegaskan kembali kearifan lokal. Dengan kata lain, menegakkan kembali ketentuan-ketentuan adat terkait dengan tanah. Misalnya ketentuan tanah ulayat. Tanah ulayat merupakan tanah komunal milik bersama, dengan demikian tidak perlu disertifikatkan.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hatchard
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
New Order ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The People ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Fundamental Rights And Freedoms ◽  
We The People

“We the people of South Africa declare that … there is a need to create a new order in which all South Africans will be entitled to … enjoy and exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms.” (Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa)

scholarly journals KORUPSI LEGISLASI DALAM PEMBENTUKAN PERATURAN PERUNDANG-UNDANGAN

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 347
Author(s):  
Akhmad Adi Purawan
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Forming Mechanism ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Making

<p>Meskipun Indonesia telah memiliki Undang-Undang Nomor 10 Tahun 2004 tentang Pembentukan Peraturan Perundang- undangan yang selanjutnya disempurnakan dengan Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011, tetapi kerawanan dalam proses pembentukan peraturan peraturan perundang-undangan yang mengarah pada bentuk perilaku koruptif masih terjadi. Dengan menggunakan metode yuridis normatif, studi ini mencari jawaban atas pertanyaan apakah pengaturan dalam Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011 telah mengantisipasi terjadinya korupsi legislasi dalam pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan. Studi ini menyimpulkan bahwa secara normatif Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011 sudah cukup antisipatif dalam menciptakan mekanisme pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan yang mengarah pada bentuk pencegahan terhadap praktik korupsi legislasi. Namun, perwujudan pembentukan peraturan perundang- undangan yang baik dan bersih sangat tergantung pada kualitas pelaksanaannya. Dari lima tahapan pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan, studi ini menemukan tahap perencanaan dan pembahasan mengandung kerawanan yang cukup tinggi, sedangkan pada tahap penyusunan, penetapan/pengesahan, dan pengundangan kecil kemungkinan terjadi. Untuk meminimalisasi peluang terjadinya korupsi legislasi, studi ini mengusulkan empat prinsip yang dapat diterapkan, meliputi ketatalaksanaan, profesionalitas, justifikasi, dan partisipasi publik.</p><p>Indonesia has Law Number 10 year 2004 on drafting of the laws then its superseded by Law Number 12 year 2011 but the vulnerability in the law making process that lead to corruptive behaviour remain happens. By using juridical normative methods, this study seeks answers whether the regulation in the Law Number 12 year 2011 have been anticipating for the vulnerability of legislative corruption in law making process. This study conclude that normatively Law Number 12 year 2011 has been quite anticipative in forming mechanism of law making process which is lead to prevent legislative corruption practices. However, the embodiment of clean and good establishment of legislation is depend on the quality of its implementation. Among the stages of law making process , this study found that planning and discussion stages are quite vulnerable to legislative corruption, while preparation, enactment, and promulgation less likely occured. In order to minimize possibility of legislative corruption, this study proposes four principles can be applied icluded the management, professionalism, justification, and public participation.</p>

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