This study examines the effect of judicial protection of minority rights on the Constitutional Court’s legitimacy. The framing of the Marriage Act shows that Parliament intended marriage to be between a man and a woman. By nullifying section 30(1) of the Act and making the order above, the Court fulfilled its constitutional mandate of upholding fundamental human rights. At the same time, it negated the intention of Parliament which represents majoritarian interests. The Constitutional Court is, in contra-distinction with Parliament, unelected. By voiding section 30(1) of the Marriage Act and arousing public opposition to legal recognition of same-sex unions, it raised a ‘countermajoritarian difficulty.’ This ‘countermajoritarian difficulty’ has elicited intense scholarly debate.17 The study examines how the Court’s negation of majoritarian interests in order to protect minority rights affects its legitimacy. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Associate Prof. Tamale Sylvia of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

MAAS / Centre for African Studies / This study explored the adaptability of indigenous African marriage songs to piano. Music education has always been biased towards Western music content to the exclusion of local musical traditions. A vast amount of musical repertoire within indigenous African societies exists. Formal music education, however, seems oblivious of this resource despite some educators decrying the dearth of materials. There is a need for music curriculum which is located within an African context and which includes indigenous African musical practices. Such need is also expressed in the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document. This study explored the feasibility of building a repertoire of indigenous songs for classroom purposes. A number of songs, were collected, transcribed, analysed then placed in various levels of difficulty. These were then matched with the requisite proficiency levels congruent to other graded piano regimes commonly used in the school system. The assumption is that the adaptation and arrangement of indigenous marriage songs will help to bring indigenous African musical practices into modern music education space. Furthermore, it is envisaged that the philosophical understanding and the knowledge attendant to music practices yielding these songs and the context in which they are performed will form the basis for further advancement.

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

Trois types de mariage (africain, civil, chrétien), trois célébrations (en famille, à la mairie, à l’Église), trois officiants différents (anciens des familles de futurs mariés, officier de l’État civil, prêtre), trois consentements (en famille, à la mairie, à l’Église), trois droits (coutumier, civil, canonique), deux registres (à la mairie, à l’Église), trois types de dépenses financières (en famille, à la mairie, à l’Église), trois enquêtes prénuptiales (en famille, à la mairie, à l’Église) pour une même personne baptisée catholique africaine pour être reconnue comme mariée par l’Église catholique. Cela semble trop demander pour une action réputée libre par excellence. La personne baptisée est exclue, temporairement ou définitivement, de l’accès aux autres sacrements ou de certains services paroissiaux, dès l’instant où elle célèbre le mariage africain, considéré comme un péché public et comme du concubinage, depuis le début de l’évangélisation de l’Afrique subsaharienne. Seule la célébration du mariage chrétien lui permet de se réconcilier avec Dieu et avec l’Église. Préoccupé par cette situation, l’épiscopat africain appela, au Synode de 1994, à des recherches approfondies, pouvant permettre d’éviter la superposition des trois types de mariage et émit le vœu d’en avoir qu’un. Jusqu’aujourd’hui, les solutions initiées n’y ont jamais remédié. Basées sur les conditions de fond et de forme, les célébrations du mariage religieux au Québec et du mariage africain en République démocratique du Congo produisent des effets civils. Notre étude s’en est inspirée pour proposer une compréhension du mariage fondée sur la théologie baptismale qui incorpore la personne à l’Église, la régénère en enfant de Dieu et la configure au Christ, par un caractère indélébile. Par ce caractère juridique baptismal, la célébration du mariage africain produirait des effets religieux, ce qui ne rendrait plus nécessaire la célébration du mariage dit « chrétien » pour des baptisés catholiques africains. Pour une mise en œuvre réussie de cette perspective, nous considérons indispensable la contribution du pouvoir civil. / Three types of marriage (African, civil, Christian), three celebrations (in family, at the town hall, the Church), three different officiants (old of the families of future grooms, registrar, priest), three consents (in family, at the town hall, the Church), three rights (usual, civil, canonical), two registers (with the town hall, the Church), three types of financial expenditure (in family, with the town hall, the Church), three premarital investigations (in family, at the town hall, the Church) for the same African catholic person baptized to be recognized as married by Catholic church. That seems too much to require for an action considered free par excellence. The baptized person is excluded, temporarily or definitively, of the access to the other sacraments or certain parochial services, as of the moment when it celebrates the African marriage, considered a public sin and as cohabitation, since the beginning of the evangelization of sub-Saharan Africa. Only the celebration of the Christian marriage enables him to be reconciled with God and the Church. Worried by this situation, the African episcopate called, with the Synod of 1994, with deepened research, being able to allow to avoid the superposition of the three types of marriage and expressed the wish to have some that one. Until today, the initiated solutions never cured it. Based on the basic conditions and of form, the celebrations of the church wedding in Quebec and the African marriage in democratic Republic of Congo produce civil effects. Our study was inspired some to propose a comprehension of the marriage based on the baptismal theology which incorporates the person in the Church, regenerates it as a child of God and configures it with Christ, by an indelible character. By this baptismal character legal, the celebration of the African marriage would produce religious effects, which would not make necessary the celebration of the marriage says “Christian” for baptized catholic African. For an implementation successful of this prospect, we consider essential the contribution of the civil capacity.