scholarly journals Prospects for gender changes at the top of the government in the Republic of South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 43-57
Author(s):  
Lubov Ya. Prokopenko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

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.

scholarly journals Fostering public accountability in South Africa: A reflection on challenges and successes

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pandelani H. Munzhedzi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Accountability ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

Accountability and oversight are constitutional requirements in all the spheres of government in the Republic of South Africa and their foundation is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. All spheres of government are charged with the constitutional mandate of providing public services. The level of responsibility and public services provision also goes with the level of capacity of a particular sphere. However, most of the direct and visible services that the public receives are at the local sphere of government. As such, enormous resources are channelled towards this sphere of government so that the said public services could be provided. It is imperative that the three spheres of government account for the huge expenditures during the public service provision processes. The parliaments of national and provincial governments exercise oversight and accountability over their executives and administrations through the Public Accounts Committees, while the local sphere of government relies on the Municipal Public Accounts Committees. This article is theoretical in nature, and it seeks to explore the current state of public accountability in South Africa and to evaluate possible measures so as to enhance public accountability. The article argues that the current public accountability mechanisms are not efficient and effective. It is recommended that these mechanisms ought to be enhanced by inter alia capacitating the legislative bodies at national, provincial and local spheres of the government.

scholarly journals State Use Provisions for Patent Law, and Expropriations: Some Comparative Law Guidelines for South Africa during the Covid-19 Crisis and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Mikhalien Du Bois
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
State Government ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Patent Owner ◽  
Canadian Law ◽  
Patent Rights ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Suitable Framework

This article views section 4 of the Patents Act 57 of 1978 against section 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and Article 31 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of 1994 (hereafter TRIPS). The purpose is to find a suitable framework for the state/government use/utilisation of patented products or processes for public purposes. A comparison is done with the Crown use provisions in United Kingdom, Australian and Canadian law to find a suitable approach to questions relating to remuneration for state use, the prior negotiations requirement set by Article 31 of TRIPS, and the public purposes and exclusive patent rights that would be included under state use. The COVID-19 international pandemic has caused a state of national disaster in South Africa, which is exactly the kind of situation of extreme urgency envisioned by the exception in Article 31 of TRIPS, which permits the state use of patents without requiring prior negotiations with the patent owner. In the battle against COVID-19 and its concomitant fallout, the South African government (and authorised private parties) would be permitted to utilise patent rights without explicit authorisation from the patent owner and without prior negotiations, but subject to the payment of reasonable remuneration by the government and other terms and conditions as agreed upon or as determined by a court. This may include making (manufacturing), using, exercising, and importing patented products (for example, personal protective equipment, pharmaceuticals, ventilators and diagnostic tests) deemed necessary in the fight against COVID-19. Foreign jurisdictions considered in this article indicate that section 4 of the Patents Act 57 of 1978 may certainly benefit from an update to provide detailed guidance on the state use of patented products or processes for public purposes. In the interest of a timeous offensive against the COVID-19 virus, the patent provisions need a speedy update to allow state use compliant with TRIPS and the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Ethnic Voting and Political Change in South Africa

1974 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 1520-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanton Peele ◽  
Stanley J. Morse
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Identity ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One

Immediately prior to the 1970 parliamentary election in the Republic of South Africa, 462 white voters in Cape Town were questioned about their demographic backgrounds, voting intentions, and political attitudes. The study showed that ethnicity is the major determinant of party vote: Afrikaners vote for the National Party, the English-speaking for the United Party. SES-related factors predict party identification only insofar as they covary with ethnicity. While a liberalization of political attitudes with rising SES can be observed, this has no bearing on electoral behavior. Party vote is not related to ideological or issue orientations, but is related to the intensity of the voter's identification with his own ethnic group and with white South Africans in general. Voters tend to react positively or negatively to the NP, with the UP serving chiefly as a vehicle for protest votes against the government. The slight drop in NP support in 1970 was due to a key group of abstainers who—while basically Nat supporters—were more liberal than those who said they would vote for the NP. It is “Ambiguous Afrikaners” (those who are changing to an “English” identity), and only some of those, who are defecting completely from their traditional political allegiance. They represent the one sign of potential change in South Africa's uniquely stable political system.

Health care in South Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-75
Author(s):  
Elena Frolova
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Organ Transplant ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Malignant Neoplasms ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Health Organization

Every person who is at least somewhat familiar with the history of medicine knows the name of Christiaan Barnard, cardiac surgeon who performed the first successful heart transplant. This happened on December 3, 1967 at a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. A man suffering from an incurable heart disease had a healthy organ transplant from a 25-yearold girl who died in a car accident. The patient lived for two weeks and died from complicated bilateral pneumonia, however, this case marked the beginning of a new era in transplantology giving hope of saving hundreds of patients. What do we know about health care of the Republic of South Africa, one of the most developed countries on the African continent? How much does the present situation allow the government to be classified as a world leader in healthcare? Unfortunately, according to the World Health Organization newsletter, South Africa at the present stage tops the sad ranking of countries by the number of HIV-infected and AIDS patients — about 7 million out of the 58 million people are infected with a dangerous virus. Unlike developed countries, where the main cause of death is pathology of the cardiovascular system, strokes and malignant neoplasms, three quarters of patients in the Republic of South Africa die due to infectious processes. Speaking about the heterogeneity of medicine, we were almost for the first time confronted with the fact that health services can be divided not only into health care for the «rich and poor», but also for the «white and black».

An Economic Analysis of the Social Grant Policy in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 362
Author(s):  
Rufaro GARIDZIRAI ◽  
Rufaro Emily CHIKURUWO
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Grants ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Social Grant ◽  
The Right

South Africa`s economy is largely influenced by socio-economic challenges that need attention. These challenges include poverty, stagnant economic growth, unemployment and crime. In a bid to address these challenges, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa established the social grant system as one of the solutions to the above entrenched challenges. Section 27 (1) (c) of the Constitution affords everyone the right to social security, including, appropriate social support for themselves and those that depend on them. The critical question is whether the social grant system can solve all the above-mentioned challenges? This question remains as one of the unanswered questions in South Africa’s policy space. Extensive examination of this conundrum is therefore necessary. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate whether the social grants are economically sustainable in South Africa. The study utilized a combination of the doctrinal research methodology and literature review approach in achieving the objective of the study. The results of the study suggest that the social grant system is a short-term policy that presents long-run challenges, especially if the economic outlook of the country is not favorable. Therefore, although the social grant system is legally supported by the Constitution, it is nonetheless economically unsustainable considering the economic metrics of South Africa. Based on the results of the study, the paper proposes that the government introduces a new system of social grants that promotes small businesses for citizens so that they do not rely on the government for survival.  

scholarly journals 'South Africa is Not an Accused'

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Jerusha Asin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
African Union ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
High Court ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

There is a confrontation between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and state parties, and at this particular point in time, the Republic of South Africa, in connection with the arrest warrants issued by the Court for the President of Sudan in 2009 and 2010. Between 13 and 15 June 2015, President Omar al-Bashir was present on the territory of South Africa for purposes of attending the 25th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. Despite judgments from both the ICC upholding the obligation of South African authorities to arrest and surrender President Bashir and parallel domestic proceedings at the South African High Court in which authorities were ordered to prevent the departure of President Bashir from South African territory pending final judicial decision on whether the Government was required to execute the ICC arrest warrants, President Bashir nevertheless departed from the Waterkloof military air base on 15 June 2015, even as Government lawyers assured the High Court in a hearing on the same date that he was still in the country. Only after his plane had safely landed in Khartoum did the same lawyers then notify the High Court that he had left South Africa. This article will analyze this case in the following lines.

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