Magister Legum - LLM / The Cape Flats is known for poverty, gangsterism, over population and a general lack of basic necessities. What is often overlooked is where this negative perception emanates from. Generational poverty is an existent issue and has been influential in shaping the Cape Flats to what it is today. What this study aims to do, is to provide a background on a possible theory for this typecast that accompanies the areas broadly known as the Cape Flats. The study will show how the Apartheid era created a ripple effect for future generations, and how this may be the cause of these vulnerable groups of children being failed by a system which have long forgotten about them. The study demonstrates how vulnerable groups on the Cape Flats, struggling and pleading for State intervention in the delivery of basic human rights, have fallen on deaf ears. The study further reveals that the State has not fulfilled its constitutional mandate, neither has it lived up to the enabling provisions contained in international instruments which has been adopted by the South African government, and confirms that all three spheres of government have lacked in the accomplishments it set out to achieve upon the adoption of various pieces of legislation, notwithstanding the proclamation of domestic laws to help the State realise its socioeconomic rights obligations. The study was a particularly challenging task to undertake, as research topics on the issue of socioeconomic rights realisation on the Cape Flats is not a well-studied subject. The intention behind the study is to make an important contribution towards awareness of the issue under discussion, paving the way for future knowledge sharing and an open dialogue focusing on the role of the State in the realisation of socioeconomic rights of children on the Cape Flats.

Magister Legum - LLM / This year marks 57 years since Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This year also marks 18 years since the African Union (AU) was formed on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa. This year further marks 39 years since the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) was adopted on 27 June 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya. This was recorded as historic step towards the protection of human rights in Africa.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the understanding of human rights in Agenda 2030 and the role of companies by adopting a human rights-based approach to sustainable development. It applies a qualitative idea analysis of the primarily material where central concepts are operationalized by constructing a model of analysis based on dimensions. The dimensions of human rights as moral, politics and law, derives from previous research by the ethical theorist Elena Namli. A potential fourth dimension, the economic dimension of human rights, is further developed, applying research of the economists Dan Seymour and Jonathan Pincus. Furthermore, this research considers what Agenda 2030 indicates in terms of human rights obligations for companies and the impacts the perceived role of companies may have for human rights. Therefore, the theoretical framework is complemented by research of the political theorist Thomas Pogge's, and international lawyer Andrew Clapham’s ideas of human rights obligations for companies. The results show that Agenda 2030 encourages a multi-stakeholder approach and addresses companies as partners in order to achieve a sustainable development based on human rights. This can be regarded as an opportunity to enhance the respect, protection and fulfillment of human rights, inviting more actors to contribute in a complementary way to states. At the same time challenges remains in creating policies, accountability and monitoring mechanisms towards companies bothin terms of human rights and companies’ performance on the SDGs. Until there is more legal clarity, the moral question of what is good and fair business practice becomes central.

Cyber bullying is a growing phenomenon in schools all over the world, and it is evident that cyber bullying presents certain unique problems for schools in the regulation thereof. From the number of different definitions of cyber bullying, it is also evident that there is no clear concept of the exact nature of cyber bullying, and how it should be addressed in schools. The existing legal framework in South Africa can be used to address cyber bullying in schools, but there is no legislation or policy that is directly aimed at the regulation of cyber bullying at school level. The purpose of this research is to develop a law and policy framework for the effective regulation of cyber bullying in schools. Firstly, a literature review was conducted to determine the nature of cyber bullying and to examine how cyber bullying in American schools is regulated by law. Secondly, a literature study determined the human rights obligations with regard to protecting learners against cyber bullying, and reviewed how current South African law and policy speaks to addressing cyber bullying in schools. In order to investigate the occurrence of cyber bullying in South African schools practically, a case study was conducted at a South African school. All the resources mentioned above were used to develop an education-specific law and policy framework to address cyber bullying in South African schools effectively. This framework includes a suggested insertion in the South African Schools Act, draft Guidelines for the regulation of cyber bullying in schools, draft provisions for schools’ Codes of conduct for learners and an information brochure on cyber bullying. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. D.