Keeping The Natives in Their Place: The Ideology of White Supremacy and The Flogging of African Offenders in Colonial Natal – Part 2

The political economy of colonial Natal was based on a coercive and hierarchical racial order. Over decades, the white colonists struggled to assert their power over the indigenous inhabitants of the colony, and to force them off their land and into wage labour in service of the white colonial economy. This process resulted in ongoing resistance on the part of the indigenous population, which ultimately manifested as a series of rebellions and revolts throughout the colonial period, and which were met with force by the white colonists. White colonial ideology was shaped by the violent and adversarial nature of the social, political and economic relations between white and black in the colony. It was also influenced by the broader global context, within which colonisation was justified by racist variants of the theory of Social Darwinism. Driven by a strange mix of deep insecurity and fear on the one hand and racist paternalism on the other, the white settlers of colonial Natal developed a variant of white supremacist ideology with a special flavour. Nowhere was this more apparent than in their near obsession with flogging as the most appropriate manner of dealing with, in particular, African offenders. By closely examining a series of public debates that took place in the colony of Natal between 1876 and 1906, this contribution seeks to excavate the various nuanced strands of thinking that made up the ideology of white supremacy in the colony at the time.

The Protection of Refugee Children in Africa: Post-Convention on The Rights of The Child

The plight of refugees is currently one of the concerning global human rights issues. The refugee population is largely comprised of women and children who become displaced during armed conflicts; this is because the majority of persons killed or who become victims of forced disappearance are men. Forcibly displaced children face direct physical threats, as well as a variety of health-related problems. Although forcibly displaced children generally include those who are not refugees, this contribution is only concerned with refugee children. Refugee children are vulnerable to different types of abuse and exploitation, and often become the target of discrimination, sexual exploitation and social marginalisation in the refugee transit camps and countries of exile. Although the Convention on the Rights of Child, 1989 was adopted to protect children’s rights worldwide, the true impact of these provisions remains uncertain. This contribution examines the extent to which the adherence to the Convention on the Rights of the Child is promoted in Africa. This study compares the situation in South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia to pinpoint the legal and practical challenges that face refugee children in those countries. The contribution concludes with recommended solutions for effectively protecting and promoting refugee children’s rights in Africa.

The Contribution of Papyrus Ashmolean Museum 1945.97 (“Naunakht’s Will & Related Documents”) to Our Understanding of The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition and Succession Law

The New Kingdom Papyrus Ashmolean Museum 1945.97 (better known as “Naunakht’s will and related documents”) can assist us in gaining a better understanding of ancient Egyptian testamentary dispositions and its succession law. A problem that must be borne in mind when studying any ancient text, is that one should never impose modern legal concepts on these ancient texts. Nonetheless, these ancient texts may contain building blocks of later legal concepts. In particular, Naunakht’s will may provide valuable information on concepts and elements pertaining to succession law in general. In addition, it may provide further valuable information on testamentary dispositions in particular and may indicate that the building blocks of succession law are much older than Roman law.

The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition

This contribution discusses the ancient Egyptian testamentary disposition document as an arrangement made prior to death. It discusses from a legal perspective different documents used for this purpose. The purpose of a testamentary disposition was to make decisions about one’s assets before death. An attempt is made to indicate that the testamentary disposition document was used from very early in ancient Egyptian history and different documents were used as a will by the testator/testatrix. The purpose of the testamentary disposition was, essentially, to alter the customary intestate succession law. The initial emphasis and connection with religion diminished as different documents were used to make provision prior to death of what was to become of one’s estate. Studying these different testamentary dispositions, we may learn more about testate succession law in ancient Egypt.

A Historical Overview of the Mental Health Expert in England Until the Nineteenth Century

Throughout history, the use of mental health professionals as expert witnesses has elicited criticism. The criticism stemmed from the alleged lack of scientific rigour in mental health sciences and the accompanying bias of expert witnesses. As the use of mental health professionals in court increased, so did the associated problems, with bias remaining at the forefront. The same challenges plague the South African courts today and despite various evidentiary and procedural rules2 aimed at addressing the problems, these have not achieved much success. The contribution traces the origins of the expert witness, in particular the mental health expert, in the English legal system until the nineteenth century. By examining the shift in the position of the expert witness from a neutral informant in the eighteenth century to a partisan witness in the nineteenth century, a parallel is drawn between the historical position in England and the current position in South Africa. Drawing on the past failures and successes of the English legal system in this regard, and briefly considering the current position in England, recommendations are made to address the problem of partisan mental health experts within the South African context.

A history of Malawi’s criminal justice system: from pre-colonial to democratic periods

This contribution traces the historical development of the criminal justice system in Malawi, from the pre-colonial period, through the colonial and independence periods, to the contemporary democratic period. It highlights the major political hallmarks of each historical period and their impact on the development of the criminal justice system. The contribution shows that all aspects of the current criminal justice system – substantive criminal law, procedural law, criminallaw enforcement agencies, courts and correctional services – are products of political and constitutional processes and events of the past century. Their origins are directly traceable to the imposition of British protectorate rule on Nyasaland in the late nineteenth century. The development of the Malawian criminal justice system since then has been heavily influenced by the tension and conflict of colonialism, the brutality of one-party dictatorship and the country’s quest for a constitutional order that is based on liberal principles of democracy, rule of law, transparency and accountability, respect for human rights, limited government and equality before the law. To properly understand Malawi’s current criminal justice system, one has to know and appreciate its historical origins and development.

The Concept of Labour in South African Law

The attitude of European invaders toward the African people they encountered during the colonial conquest of South Africa has been crucial in the formulation of law. This contribution undertakes a contrapuntal reading of historic laws pertinent to notions of labour and its regulation, in order to reveal the import of its orientation to the system devised. The discourse on Africans and the manner of their utilisation as a source of labour are assessed from the text of legal provisions of the emergent Cape Colony and the later period of industrial mining in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. From a post-colonial, theoretical perspective, the exploration expands the latitude of labour law to incorporate property, mobility, mining and other subsets of law. A recount of these early laws reveals that the forcible labouring of Africans has been vital in the development of colonial settlements and enterprise endeavours. The supposed worthwhile modernisation of South Africa has been largely accomplished through the cruelty imposed on Africans. Yet normalised accounts advance concrete separations, (white) leadership alongside legitimised African servitude. Fidelity to that paradigm of thought demands an either-or response to historical events (either it was good – a necessary evil – or it was bad), without making room for nuanced deliberation. It presumes a capacity to escape colonial manipulation when interrogating its misdeeds. However, the formation of that type of thought itself is flawed, and has failed to create the certitudes professed. Since the founding mythos upon which legal reasoning has been assembled has rested on the diminution of Africans, continued fidelity to the accumulated arrangements of labour and its control is disturbed by the appraisal in this contribution. The process avoids validating the simplistic legitimation of labour norms by the controlled insertion of Africans into colonised spaces – a narrow way of thinking that encourages the belief that solutions can be found in according Africans access to the spoils of conquest.

The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition

This contribution discusses the ancient Egyptian testamentary disposition document as an arrangement made prior to death. It discusses from a legal perspective different documents used for this purpose. The purpose of a testamentary disposition was to make decisions about one’s assets before death. An attempt is made to indicate that the testamentary disposition document was used from very early in ancient Egyptian history and different documents were used as a will by the testator/testatrix. The purpose of the testamentary disposition was, essentially, to alter the customary intestate succession law. The initial emphasis and connection with religion diminished as different documents were used to make provision prior to death of what was to become of one’s estate. Studying these different testamentary dispositions, we may learn more about testate succession law in ancient Egypt.

Keeping the natives in their place: the ideology of white supremacy and the flogging of African offenders in colonial Natal – part 1

The political economy of colonial Natal was based on a coercive and hierarchical racial order. Over decades, the white colonists struggled to assert their power over the indigenous inhabitants of the colony, to force them off their land and into wage labour in service of the white colonial economy. This process resulted in ongoing resistance on the part of the indigenous population, including a series of rebellions and revolts throughout the colonial period, which were met with force by the white colonists. White colonial ideology was shaped by the violent and adversarial nature of the social, political and economic relations between white and black in the colony. It was also influenced by the broader global context, within which colonisation was justified by racist variants of the theory of Social Darwinism. Driven by a strange mix of deep insecurity and fear on the one hand, and racist paternalism on the other, the white settlers of colonial Natal developed a variant of white supremacist ideology with a special flavour. Nowhere was this more apparent than in their near obsession with flogging as the most appropriate manner of dealing with African offenders in particular. By closely examining a series of public debates that took place in the colony of Natal between 1876 and 1906, this contribution seeks to excavate the various nuanced strands of thinking that together comprised the ideology of white supremacy in the colony at that time.

On Florentinus’ definition of Libertas

Libertas is one of the main concepts of public life in the Roman world. It has a public content when referring to the freedom of the Republic, and a private implication when it is opposed to slavery. Florentinus’ definition of libertas is quite interesting, because it was given within the context of slavery, although it does not fit that scenario entirely. In fact, it seems more cogent with regard to the public concept of libertas. This contribution analyses this aspect in detail.