South Africa's transition to constitutional democracy marked the end of a system of government that perpetuated injustice on the basis of race. The previous system of government, underpinned by the principle of parliamentary supremacy, did not only exclude the majority of the population from public governance processes, it also economically exploited the majority of the population. As such, it laid the foundation for widespread poverty and inequalities in access to basic services. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution), is committed to correcting these past injustices and aims to establish a society based on social justice. This constitutional vision finds expression in the notion of transformative constitutionalism. Klare introduced the notion of transformative constitutionalism over a decade ago. For purpose of this thesis, the notion represents the socio-economic and political vision of post-apartheid South Africa to eradicate extreme poverty and inequalities in access to basic services as well as establish a democratic system of government that is inclusive, caring, participatory, representative and accountable. It captures the constitutional commitment to establish and maintain a society based on social justice by inter alia, eradicating poverty and inequalities in access to social services. The realisation of the socio-economic rights entrenched in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution (by all organs of state) is one of the ways in which to contribute towards meeting this transformative constitutional mandate, and by extension, striving towards the attainment of social justice. Although transformative constitutionalism and the achievement of a socially just society remain an ideal, the Constitution as the supreme law in the country, obligates the state, constitutive of public and private entities, to work towards its realisation, to the fullest extent possible. As part of post-apartheid institutional transformation, the Constitution established three spheres of government – national, provincial and local - which are distinct, interrelated and interdependent. All three spheres are obliged to operate in accordance with the principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations and are co-responsible for realising a number of constitutional objectives. Since 1996, the Constitution obliges local government (municipalities) to play an expanded "developmental" role. This has marked a move away from local government being regarded as merely a service delivery arm of government. xii The extended function of local government that came about with the constitutional dispensation finds expression in the notion of "developmental local government". This study is based on the premise that developmental local government must and can, together with the authorities in the other two spheres, contribute to transformative constitutionalism and social justice. Primarily, this study questions the extent to which the legal and policy framework on local government in South Africa enable local government (municipalities) to contribute towards realising the constitutional socio-economic rights underpinning the mandate of transformative constitutionalism. This study presents a review of relevant literature in order to establish links between the theoretical concepts underpinning this thesis. It examines the legal and policy framework on "developmental" local government in South Africa and analyses the central legal framework for the realisation of socio-economic rights at the local government level. In addition, the study explores the relevance and potential of local government indigent policies and Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) - as legally prescribed governance instruments - in contributing towards a more just society by examining their underlying legal and policy framework. It further distils from the theories and perspectives of social justice, benchmarks to guide local government towards achieving the transformative constitutional mandate aimed at social justice. Based on the legal, policy and other gaps identified, recommendations are made on how to optimise the potential of IDPs and municipal indigent policies in contributing towards achieving social justice. / PhD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The purpose of the Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994 is to provide for the restitution of rights in land to persons or communities dispossessed of such rights after 19 June 1913 as a result of past racially discriminatory laws or practices. The restitution of a right in land can include the restoration of a right in land. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the requirement of feasibility in restoring land rights and in particular the role of feasibility studies and the courts’ interpretation of the feasibility requirement in restoring such rights. The methodology used includes a review of literature, legislation and policies on land restitution and an analysis of case law. The outcome of the research indicates that while actual restoration ought to take preference in all instances, it may only be granted once all the relevant circumstances and factors have been considered. In certain circumstances it may not be feasible to restore land rights. / Private Law / LL. M. (Property Law)

La pauvreté est un phénomène qui touche tous les continents et plus particulièrement l’Afrique. Elle affecte surtout les populations des pays sous développés. Malgré la lutte de ces derniers au lendemain de la seconde guerre mondiale en faveur de l’établissement d’un nouvel ordre économique international qui assurerait leur droit au développement, force est de constater que la question de la lutte contre la pauvreté est encore d’actualité. La Banque mondiale est l’un des acteurs centraux qui accompagnent les pays africains, entre autres, à réaliser leur développement socio-économique à travers la mise en œuvre de projets et programmes de développement. Cependant, la reconnaissance du droit au développement et de ses principes par la Banque mondiale ne s’est pas opérée sans réticence au début. C’est seulement à partir des années 1990 et plus encore au début des années 2000 avec les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement, que l’institution a changé sa vision du développement, élargi ses objectifs, adopté de nouvelles politiques et posé de nouvelles conditionnalités d’octroi de son financement respectueux des principes ou exigences de la Déclaration du droit au développement. Ce changement traduit l’échec des politiques appliquées par la Banque Mondiale en Afrique subsaharienne avant les années 1990. Quels étaient ces politiques ? L’évolution institutionnelle, idéologique de l’institution et ses nouvelles conditionnalités contribuent-elles à assurer un impact plus positif des projets ou programmes de développement en Afrique en général, et plus particulièrement au Bénin, au Cameroun et au Togo ? La décentralisation des compétences et attributions de l’Etat dans la plupart des pays d’Afrique subsaharienne en faveur des collectivités locales constitue-t-elle un cadre plus favorable à la réalisation du droit au développement ? / The poverty is a phenomenon which touches all the continents and more particularly Africa. It affects especially the populations of countries under developed. In spite of the fight of these last ones after the second world war in favour of the establishment of a new international economic order which would ensure their right for the development, the forces is to notice that the question of the fight against the poverty is still of current events. The World Bank is one of the central actors who accompany the African countries, among others, to realize their socioeconomic development through the application of projects and programs of development. However, the recognition of the right for the development and of its principles by the World Bank did not take place without hesitation at the beginning. It is only from 1990s and more still at the beginning of 2000s with the Objectives of the Millennium for the Development, that the institution changed its vision of the development, widens its objectives, adopts new policies and poses of news conditions of granting of its respectful financing of the principles or the requirements of the Declaration of the right for the development.This change translates the failure of the policies applied by the World Bank in sub-Saharan Africa before 1990s. What were these policies? The institutional, ideological evolution of the institution and does its new conditionality contribute to ensure a more positive impact of the projects or the development programs in Africa generally, and more particularly in Benin, in Cameroon and in Togo? Does the decentralization of the skills and the attributions of the State, in most of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa in favour of local authorities, constitute a limit more favorable to the realization of the law for the development?

Increasing urbanization is pressing and degrading our ecosystems and compromising future generations. This scenario is expected to worsen unless significant action is scaled up. At the same time, the urban areas have the opportunity to be part of the solution, leading to a more resilient and sustainable future. Bringing nature back to cities is a powerful instrument that provides the opportunity to address sustainability challenges and benefit people and the environment. Hence, the aim of this study, framed on the REPLAN project, was to explore the integration of greening practices in the planning process in Upplands Väsby municipality during the last decade. Through a systematic literature mapping, this study investigated the integration of greening concepts in the municipality’s Detailed Development Plans. Furthermore, in-depth analysis and interpretation of the relevant Detailed Development Plans were conducted to explore which green and blue elements and structures were integrated, the drivers and instruments that foster its implementation and the actors involved in their planning process. The results show that the integration of greening concepts in the Detailed Development Plans presents a turning point in 2016, coincident with the introduction of Upplands Väsby’s Development plan for Ecosystem Services, revealing that political support at the municipal level enables the integration of greening concepts. Likewise, ecosystem services was the most integrated greening concept, pointing out a strong focus of the planning practice on ecosystem services. The most planned green and blue elements and structures are yards, courtyards and street trees and plants, whilst parks are generally integrated from the nearby environment. Moreover, the most protected green and blue elements and structures are street trees and plants. Water management, public health and well-being and biodiversity conservation are the main drivers for planning and protecting green and blue elements and structures, being also addressed by both the highest quantity and diversity of green and blue elements and structures. However, climate change mitigation and adaptation is barely the driver for planning green and blue elements and structures. Thus, this calls for the inclusion of a climate perspective in the planning processes. The key actors in planning green and blue elements and structures are the municipality, the developers and consulting companies. Besides, an innovative planning process that includes neighbours and other stakeholders in the early stages and financial incentives for implementing green and blue elements and structures was studied. The findings indicate that regulatory frameworks and binding instruments foster the integration of green and blue elements and structures in the planning practice. The outcomes also suggest that collaborative planning processes and hybrid market-driven approaches may contribute positively to integrating green and blue elements and structures.