Text in Afrikaans / Constitutional, International and Indigenous Law / LLM

M.A. (National Strategy) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis, by reviewing a human rights project implemented by the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), a South African based non-governmental organization (NGO), seeks to address the ongoing discussion regarding the role of international human rights NGOs in promoting socio-economic rights, adding a local perspective to this debate. It argues that international human rights NGOs working on socio-economic rights issues need to evaluate their approaches to promoting socio-economic rights, including their methodologies and strategies, and to engage more substantively with local NGOs concentrating on these issues. Namely, this thesis reviews a recent article written by Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), expressing HRW's views on promoting socio-economic rights. In order to support its main arguments, this thesis, using AWARD's human rights project, introduces a clear conceptual framework for economic and social rights that focuses on the right to water, and considers various methodological approaches for promoting socio-economic rights.

With this piece of work an attempt is made to have a objective evaluation of the influence of South Africa's Bill of rights on the common law of Defamation. the following aspects are being highlighted: The general application of the Bill of Rights and its relevant sections; A comparative study of the application of Bill of Rights with special reference to the United States, Canada, India and Germany; The law of Defamation under a new legal order, with specific reference to whether the Bill of Rights does apply to Defamation and if so how will it change the current common law of Defamation. / Text in Afrikaans / Law / LL.M.

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This study focuses on the role of the South African judiciary under an entrenched and justiciable Bill of Rights. The lack of an established human rights culture in South Africa results in uncertainty regarding the permissible extent to which judges are empowered, under the Bill of Rights, to employ judicial activism and creativity in order to protect the fundamental rights of citizens. Judicial activism is used in the sense that judges can and should, whenever expressly or impliedly sanctioned to do so by the Bill of Rights, ensure that the fundamental rights of the individual are protected to the extent of granting actual constitutional relief, where this is justified, instead of merely declaring the existence of a right. The essential aim of this study is to outline the parameters of, and the legal basis upon which judicial activism can be justified and accepted into a South African human rights culture. / Jurisprudence / LL. M.

Research on children's rights very often deals with the legal aspects of their rights, based on perceived protection and provisioning needs, and focussed on deficiencies in children's lives. There is obviously a place for such considerations. It is rare however for writers on children's rights to deal with the personal, ontological and moral rights of children in a principled way. This study aims to address this deficit and reveal the axiomatic and essential rights of children in their home setting. The standing of children's rights in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) is reviewed. Although the primary focus will be on the South African situation, it will be illuminated by references to cogent international experience and positions, apposite to the prosecution and theme of this study. This is appropriate, as South Africa is integral to the international initiatives and imperatives in human rights, especially as they apply to children. In terms of the South African state, children's rights have been given formal recognition in the Constitution, as well as in laws and policies flowing there from. It is noted that there may be deficiencies in the implementation and realisation of these rights in practice, however. Only a fraction of children's rights apply in the public sector. Children live their lives predominantly in the home and so the realisation of their rights very often comes down to the attitudes and actions of their parents, in a horizontal application of the Bill of Rights. This study explores what rights children should be bestowed by their parents in their home and according to what values and criteria. The traditional and emerging roles of parents are considered, as they relate to the realisation of rights by their children. The evolution of the concept of childhood is explicated, including social change advocacy and social movements designed to assist children to realise their rights optimally. This study is not based on legal rights per se, but is predicated on an ontological vision of personhood, as it applies to children. Instead of natural rights, the fundamental and universal values that underlie human rights are considered. These values include respect for person, dignity , equality, autonomy, freedom and justice for children in their relationships with their parents. In order to generate the debate on children's rights in the home, two exemplars are considered, based on first principles and fundamental, axiological values. The first exemplar is the child's right not to receive corporal punishment from parents. The second exemplar considers the child's right to realise freedom of religion in the home, including the right to hold different religious beliefs from his or her parents, and to act on these beliefs, in contradistinction to the religion espoused by his or her parents. The thesis contained in this study is that children's rights can only be realised and assured if parents treat their children as persons of worth and dignity, and raise them to become fully functioning adults. The concept of an 'enlightened parent' is critical, if children are to realise their rights. Enlightened parenting involves a lifetime of support and education by parents in order to assist their children to achieve their own special ends as persons. The concept of an 'enlightened parent' is proposed as the portal through which children's rights will be realised. An 'enlightened parent', as the ideal type of parent, should form the basis on which an advocacy campaign should be mounted to enhance the realisation of children's rights in the private domain. The values implicit in an 'enlightened parent' are briefly sketched, incorporating critical values such as tolerance, good will, respect, care, concern and unconditional positive regard. These are the relational values between parents and children that will deliver the human rights values, and therefore ensure, in effect, the accomplishment of children's rights. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

LL.D. / In hierdie studie word ondersoek ingestel na die beregbaarheid van sosiale sekerheidsregte as 'n fundamentele reg wat deur die Grondwet verskans word. Die konsep "sosiale sekerheid" is as fundamentele reg bekend gestel in die Suid- Afrikaanse regsisteem deur die insluiting van die reg op toegang tot sosiale sekerheid in artikel 27(1)(c) van die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika 108 van 1996. Artikel 27(1)(c) bepaal soos voig: Elkeen het die reg op toegang tot sosiale sekerheid, met inbegrip van gepaste sosiale bystand indien hulle nie in staat is om hulself en hul afhanklikes te onderhou nie. Artikel 27(2) bepaal soos voig: Die staat moet redelike wetgewende en ander maatreels tref om binne sy beskikbare middele elk van hierdie regte in toenemende mate te verwesenlik. Alhoewel die reg op sosiale sekerheid spesifieke vermeiding in artikel 27(1)(c) geniet, bestaan daar ook ander regte in die Handves van Regte wat as vertakkings of bepaalde risiko's van 'n sosiale sekerheidstelsel beskou kan word. Dit is die reg op toegang tot mediese sorg, die reg op voedsel en water, die reg op toegang tot geskikte behuising, die regte van kinders op sorg, basiese voeding, skuiling, basiese gesondheidsorg- en maatskaplike dienste. Wanneer daar dus na sosiale sekerheidsregte verwys word, sal dit al bogenoemde bepalings insluit. Die term "sosiale sekerheid" in plaas van "maatskaplike sekerheid" sal ook gebruik word omdat eersgenoemde 'n wyer aanwending as Iaasgenoemde het.

Thesis (LLM. (Labour Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study will analyse the fairness or unfairness of precautionary suspensions and the rights of employees in the Public Service who are placed on precautionary suspensions with reference to section 23(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which states that: (1) “ Everyone has the right to fair labour practices” Section 186(2)(b) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 defines what an unfair labour practice is with specific reference to a precautionary suspension. It reads thus: (2) “ Unfair labour practice means any unfair act or omission that arises between an employer and an employee involving – (b) the unfair suspension of an employee or any other unfair disciplinary action short of dismissal in respect of an employee” The study will also look at circumstances under which precautionary suspension is invoked on Senior Management Service employees in the public service in terms of chapter 7, clause .2.7(2) of the Senior Management Service Handbook, 2003. Decided cases will be referred to which shows that one of the reasons why many precautionary suspensions are set aside when challenged in court, is because some employees who are assigned to deal with labour issues in the government departments are not competent to deal with those issues. The issue of political appointments impacts directly on service delivery if people are appointed to positions because of political affiliation than competency.

A significant proportion of the world's population are routinely subjected to abuse, torture, humiliation, starvation and mutilation simply because they are female, more so in Africa where women's rights are still often viewed as distinct from human rights. This raises the question of state responsibility for protecting women's human rights. Women, as much as men, are entitled to full protection of their rights and freedoms because they are human beings. A decade ago, the United Nations summarized the burden of gender inequality by stating that women composed one--half of the world's population and performed two thirds of the world's work, but earned only one tenth of the world's income and owned only one hundredth of the worlds property. A look at the constitutions of many Southern African states would suggest that women enjoy equality and access to first generation hunlan rights across the region. In most of these constitutions 'discrimination' on the grounds of gender is prohibited, but the governments frequently do not have the nlechanisms in place to enforce these constitutional provisions effectively and women are therefore subjected to widespread practices of discrimination, violence and inequality. Although party to international human rights instruments that advocate gender equality, African states still take a particularly selective view of women's human rights and make this contingent upon local custom. Then one might find that the constitution and civil law give women the same rights as men, but make these subject to traditional practices that limit women's rights. This dissertation will address the issue of how customary laws limit women's human rights and will examine the role of the courts therein. We will also briefly look at the application of international human rights documents in domestic courts. In order to constructively and comprehensively examine the topic within the space constraints dictated, I had to limit this paper to a survey of five Southern African states that were chosen because of their common language, cultural and legal dualism, colonial histories, and the availability of case law. This paper will cover specific issues that affect women in the personal law of marriage, divorce, property rights and inheritance and will be limited to those areas where most inequalities occur. The reason that this paper will concentrate on the above-mentioned issues is that family law is central to African social, political and economic life. The importance of family law in traditional African systems cannot be sufficiently emphasized as it has been noted that in any study of African traditional economic and political arrangcments, the notion of family impinges upon almost every area of community life. These traditional rules are not merely historical curiosities but are part and parcel of the living domestic law in most Southern African states. We will now examine these domestic legal systenls. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.