HISTORICALLY WHITE UNIVERSITIES AND THE WHITE GAZE: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE DECOLONISATION OF THE LLB CURRICULUM1

The (most recent) call for curriculum decolonisation came at the height of student protests such as #feesmustfall and #afrikaansmustfall. In the University of Pretoria’s Curriculum Transformation Framework document, the University identified four drivers of curriculum transformation, namely, responsiveness to social context; epistemological diversity; renewal of pedagogy and classroom practices; and an institutional culture of openness and critical reflection. The content of these drivers mirror what is needed to engage in decolonisation of curricula. In the spirit of these protests that led to the conceptualisation of decolonised higher education, the authors of this article critically reflect on the institutional landscape of historically white universities. The authors employ the term ‘white gaze’ to highlight how historically white universities respond to calls for decolonisation, often substituting this call with transformation. The purpose of this article is to re-contextualise the need for decolonisation at historically white universities.

TRANSFORMATIVE LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT

The late former Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa, Pius Langa, opined that a truly transformative South Africa requires a new approach that places the Constitutional dream at the very heart of legal education. This view is consistent with section 29 of the Constitution which guarantees everyone the right to further education. However, the state has failed to make further (or tertiary) education progressively available and accessible. We believe this can be attributed to the fact that the South African legal education is still riddled with inequalities from the apartheid/colonial era. This article argues that decolonisation of legal education will begin when teachers of the law become cognizant of the reality that their teaching models will shape the future legal landscape, thus it is imperative for law schools to birth law graduates with an unwavering appreciation and willingness to implement constitutional values, such as human dignity and equality in practice. The advancement of these values is enhanced by the Africanisation of legal education which will ultimately legitimize the legal order so that it mirrors the society in which it exists.

DECOLONISING LEGAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: A REVIEW OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS LAW IN THE CURRICULUM

The student demonstrations in universities, which began in 2015, demanded the decolonisation of higher education. The demands included free education and a decolonised curriculum. In the field of law, the demand is anchored in changing the law curriculum. The central issues accompanying the demand are the status of indigenous law, legal history, concept of law, how law is taught and the role of law in African societies. The article examines the necessity of decolonising legal education in relation to the curriculum and the teaching of law in South African universities. The article adopts a doctrinal approach to assess the need to transform the curriculum. The article is grounded in the theory of Afrocentricity in a bid to revive the African paradigm and to examine legal epistemology in post-colonial South Africa. The argument developed in this article is that the legal education system has not significantly been decolonised since 1994. Arguably, the education system is founded on European theories and systems, hence difficult or impossible for the students in Africa to relate. This article recommends that a new curriculum that reflect laws, principles and customs of the African people must be introduced in the South African legal education. Institutions are also encouraged to take positive steps to decolonise legal education and end eurocentrism.

BREAKING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER IN LEGAL EDUCATION: A METHOD FOR AFRICANISING LEGAL EDUCATION

Section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 recognises eleven official languages of the Republic and further requires the State to take practical steps to advance the use of African languages. The Statistics South Africa 2017/18 report shows that most South Africans’ first language are African languages. Despite this reality and the constitutional imperatives, the South African Bachelor of Laws (LLB) curriculum does not prescribe any African language as a compulsory course, and very few sources of law are in an African language. Some law schools do offer some African languages as an elective. However, it is submitted that this is not sufficient. Experience has shown that the inability to articulate oneself in English can be a barrier to completing the LLB degree in regulation-time and admission to legal practice. Furthermore, it is submitted that the Chief Justice 2017 Directive, in which Chief Justice Mogoeng declared English as the only language of record in South African courts, does not address the language problems experienced by court staff. Instead it simply perpetuates the Eurocentric legal system. This is because it counters the advancement and use of African languages envisaged by the Constitution. This article investigates how the failure to advance multilingualism in the current LLB curriculum can disadvantage law students going to practice. It is proposed that law schools begin to address this issue by introducing two innovations. First, it is suggested that law schools make at least one African language a compulsory course. For English first language speakers in particular, this arrangement will strengthen their understanding of the sociological context in which the law operates. Second, it is proposed that each law school should choose an African language that is predominantly spoken in their geographical area and partner with schools of languages to translate sources of law. For African first language speakers in particular, this will assist them in understanding legal concepts better. Translations of legal texts may also allow for law schools to teach the law in the local African language.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PRETORIA STUDENT LAW REVIEW: SPECIAL EDITION ON THE DECOLONISATION AND AFRICANISATION OF LEGAL EDUCATION

This special edition of the Pretoria Student Law Review (PSLR) is devoted to papers presented at a Conference on Decolonisation and Africanisation of Legal Education hosted by the University of Venda and the South African Law Deans Association (SALDA).1 This was the third event on decolonisation and Africanisation under the umbrella of SALDA in the period 2016 to 2019 and the first devoted to law students.

EXTRAPOLATING THE ROLE OF TRANSFORMATIVE CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE DECOLONISATION AND AFRICANISATION OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

This article extrapolates the role of transformative constitutionalism in the decolonisation and African of legal education in South Africa. In a constitutionally mandated transformative context, the systematic approach to the decolonisation and Africanisation of legal education advanced in this article emanates from the four drivers of curriculum transformation set out in the 2017 document entitled ‘Reimagining curricula for a just university in a vibrant democracy — Work stream on curriculum transformation at the University of Pretoria’. These four drivers are: responsiveness to social context; epistemological diversity; renewal of pedagogy and classroom practices; and an institutional culture of openness and critical reflection. Presently, South African universities do not have an existing national framework for a decolonised and Africanised legal education. The article therefore argues that the UP Document contains valuable guidelines on curriculum transformation of legal education as it resonates well with the objectives of both the National LLB Standard and transformative constitutionalism itself. As result, the universities which offer legal education in conjunction with key stakeholders and role-players in the legal fraternity can incorporate its valuable guidelines in National Review of the LLB programme through a proper design of constitutionally transformed framework for a decolonised and Africanised legal education.