published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This study sought to make a detailed discussion of state liability for police action with specific reference to the case of Minister of Police v Rabie 1986 (1) SA 117 (A). The historical development of state liability was traced from Roman-Dutch Law, through English Law up to and including South African Law. The major part of this work has been devoted to an indepth discussion of the case of Minister of Police v Rabie 1986 (1) S.A. 117 (A), which is the modern locus classicus on state liability for police action in South Africa. In this case the risk principle appears to have been expressly incorporated into South African law. This is the principle which postulates that the injured party should be compensated even if there was no fault on the part of the wrongdoer. During the course of this study a brief discussion of case law that followed the Rabie decision was also made. The risk principle adopted in the Rabie case was rejected and subjected to severe criticism, These decisions suggested the application of the traditional standard test which places emphasis on the question of whether the policeman's acts were done within the course and scope of his employment. The case of Minister of Law and Order v Ngobo 1992 (4) SA 822 (A) was even bold enough to reject the principle on the basis that it is controversial and untried. The drastic inroad made by certain sections of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 into this field of study was also acknowledged. It was submitted that in the light of this new law, the members of the police force as protectors of individual rights will in future have to be carefully chosen, screened, trained and constantly supervised in order to minimise the number of claims against the state based on damages. It was finally accepted that in so far as the test for vicarious liability is concerned, the Appellate Division in Ngobo 's case has, by reverting to the application of the traditional standard test, overruled its previous decision in the Rabie case. It was submitted that an uncertainty in the law has been created by these conflicting decisions and legislative intervention is therefore warranted. / Criminal & Procedural Law / LL. M. (Administrative Law)

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

This study sought to make a detailed discussion of state liability for police action with specific reference to the case of Minister of Police v Rabie 1986 (1) SA 117 (A). The historical development of state liability was traced from Roman-Dutch Law, through English Law up to and including South African Law. The major part of this work has been devoted to an indepth discussion of the case of Minister of Police v Rabie 1986 (1) S.A. 117 (A), which is the modern locus classicus on state liability for police action in South Africa. In this case the risk principle appears to have been expressly incorporated into South African law. This is the principle which postulates that the injured party should be compensated even if there was no fault on the part of the wrongdoer. During the course of this study a brief discussion of case law that followed the Rabie decision was also made. The risk principle adopted in the Rabie case was rejected and subjected to severe criticism, These decisions suggested the application of the traditional standard test which places emphasis on the question of whether the policeman's acts were done within the course and scope of his employment. The case of Minister of Law and Order v Ngobo 1992 (4) SA 822 (A) was even bold enough to reject the principle on the basis that it is controversial and untried. The drastic inroad made by certain sections of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 into this field of study was also acknowledged. It was submitted that in the light of this new law, the members of the police force as protectors of individual rights will in future have to be carefully chosen, screened, trained and constantly supervised in order to minimise the number of claims against the state based on damages. It was finally accepted that in so far as the test for vicarious liability is concerned, the Appellate Division in Ngobo 's case has, by reverting to the application of the traditional standard test, overruled its previous decision in the Rabie case. It was submitted that an uncertainty in the law has been created by these conflicting decisions and legislative intervention is therefore warranted. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LL. M. (Administrative Law)

This Ph.D. thesis provides an analysis of "ordered statements" in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ("R.C.M.P."). Statements can be compelled from R.C.M.P. members who are under "internal" investigation for misconduct. Ordered statements from police officers raise a number of difficult and complex questions that have not been thoroughly examined in Canada. Accountability in policing consists of a complex web of criminal, internal, administrative, public, and civil mechanisms to review misconduct. In order to properly consider ordered statements four threads of analysis are utilized. First, by way of background, context and comparison, this thesis describes and evaluates internal management, culture and discipline in policing, in particular the R.C.M.P. Second, this thesis examines and evaluates the role of various external mechanisms that regulate police conduct. Third, various models of civilian oversight are compared and contrasted to position the R.C.M.P. regime internationally. Fourth, the working environment of police officers and R.C.M.P. members is explored, demonstrating that it is significantly different from other occupations, calling into question the applicability of traditional management practices. The thesis concludes that the legal and constitutional position of ordered statements is uncertain, adding to morale and organizational problems in the R.C.M.P. Based on interviews with 107 members, and an examination of other sources, this thesis reveals how ordered statements in the R.C.M.P. work in actual practice, and how this mechanism impacts upon individual members and the organization itself. The results reveal marked disparity between official and member accounts. The material and findings not only challenge basic theoretical premises that inform the employment context of R.C.M.P. members, they seriously question the function of and need for ordered statements. They also establish that the specific employment and organizational context must be more adequately considered by academics and policy-makers when examining the issue of ordered statements. These findings fill gaps in the literature and hopefully contribute to theory on police accountability. The thesis ends with a number of recommendations to improve the current R.C.M.P. regime.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The broad topic of this study is the nature and the effects of making and interpreting complaints in intercultural interactions involving international students and South African administrative staff in two Stellenbosch University residences. It appears that during these interactions, the international students are often frustrated by the way their complaints are handled. As a speech act, the effectiveness of a complaint depends on the way it is expressed and understood and also on the social context in which it is performed. In this regard, the study examines the influence of cultural differences on the way complaints are made and responded to in the above-mentioned intercultural interactions. The study aims to analyse intercultural situations involving the making and understanding of complaints that may result in misunderstandings. The complaints data were collected through a discourse completion task, performed by 24 international students belonging to six cultural groups, namely American, Chinese, Dutch, Gabonese, German and Libyan. All the students were residents in one of two student residences of Stellenbosch University. The social acceptability judgments data were elicited from three Afrikaans-speaking South African staff members of these residences, and from an additional six Afrikaans-speaking South African students who served as informants. All the data were analyzed within the pragmatic framework of the CCSARP (Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project), as developed by Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989). The main findings of the analysis indicate that the six cultural groups differed in the way they made their complaints. Moreover, these differences influenced the manner in which some complaints were understood by the staff members. It was also found that the staff members’ responses to the complaints were influenced by their social acceptability judgments of the international students’ utterances. These findings lead to three main conclusions: (i) the way in which complaints are made and understood is influenced by factors that relate to cultural differences; (ii) such cultural differences may lead to misunderstandings; and (iii) conscious efforts to create greater awareness of cultural differences will lead to a better understanding of the way in which people of different cultural groups make and respond to complaints. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie handel breedweg oor die aard en effek van klagtes, soos uitgedruk en geïnterpreteer tydens interkulturele interaksies tussen internasionele studente en Suid-Afrikaanse administratiewe personeel in twee koshuise van die Universiteit Stellenbosch. Dit blyk dat die studente dikwels gefrustreerd voel oor die manier waarop hulle klagtes in sulke interaksies gehanteer word. Die effektiwiteit van ’n klagte, as ’n taalhandeling, word bepaal deur die manier waarop dit uitgedruk en verstaan word, asook deur die sosiale konteks waarbinne dit uitgevoer word. Die studie ondersoek in dié verband die invloed van kulturele verskille op die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en op gereageer word in die bogenoemde interaksies. Die doel van die studie is om ’n analise te maak van interkulturele situasies waar misverstande kan ontstaan by die uitdruk en interpretasie van klagtes. Die klagte-data is ingesamel deur die voltooiing van ’n diskoers-taak waarby 24 studente van ses verskillende kultuurgroepe betrek is: Amerikaans, Chinees, Duits, Gabonees, Libies en Nederlands. Al die studente was inwoners van een van twee koshuise van Stellenbosch Universiteit. Die data oor sosiale aanvaarbaarheidsoordele is verkry van drie Afrikaanssprekende Suid-Afrikaanse personeellede, en van ’n verdere ses Afrikaanssprekende Suid-Afrikaanse studente wat opgetree het as informante. Al die data is ontleed binne die pragmatiekraamwerk van die CCSARP (“Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Project”), soos ontwikkel deur Blum- Kulka, House en Kasper (1989). Die hoofbevindings van die analise dui daarop dat die ses kultuurgroepe van mekaar verskil wat betref die manier waarop hulle hul klagtes uitgedruk het, en dat hierdie verskille ’n invloed het op die manier waarop sommige klagtes geïnterpreteer is deur die personeellede. ’n Verdere bevinding is dat die personeellede se reaksies op die klagtes beïnvloed is deur hulle beoordeling van die sosiale aanvaarbaarheid van die internasionale studente se uitings. Drie hoofgevolgtrekkings kan op basis van dié bevindings gemaak word: (i) die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en geïnterpreteer word, word beïnvloed deur faktore wat verband hou met kulturele verskille; (ii) sulke kulturele verskille kan lei tot misverstande; en (iii) daadwerklike pogings om ’n groter bewussyn van kulturele verskille te skep, sal lei tot ’n beter begrip van die manier waarop klagtes uitgedruk en op gereageer word deur mense van verskillende kultuurgroepe.

This Ph.D. thesis provides an analysis of "ordered statements" in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ("R.C.M.P."). Statements can be compelled from R.C.M.P. members who are under "internal" investigation for misconduct. Ordered statements from police officers raise a number of difficult and complex questions that have not been thoroughly examined in Canada. Accountability in policing consists of a complex web of criminal, internal, administrative, public, and civil mechanisms to review misconduct. In order to properly consider ordered statements four threads of analysis are utilized. First, by way of background, context and comparison, this thesis describes and evaluates internal management, culture and discipline in policing, in particular the R.C.M.P. Second, this thesis examines and evaluates the role of various external mechanisms that regulate police conduct. Third, various models of civilian oversight are compared and contrasted to position the R.C.M.P. regime internationally. Fourth, the working environment of police officers and R.C.M.P. members is explored, demonstrating that it is significantly different from other occupations, calling into question the applicability of traditional management practices. The thesis concludes that the legal and constitutional position of ordered statements is uncertain, adding to morale and organizational problems in the R.C.M.P. Based on interviews with 107 members, and an examination of other sources, this thesis reveals how ordered statements in the R.C.M.P. work in actual practice, and how this mechanism impacts upon individual members and the organization itself. The results reveal marked disparity between official and member accounts. The material and findings not only challenge basic theoretical premises that inform the employment context of R.C.M.P. members, they seriously question the function of and need for ordered statements. They also establish that the specific employment and organizational context must be more adequately considered by academics and policy-makers when examining the issue of ordered statements. These findings fill gaps in the literature and hopefully contribute to theory on police accountability. The thesis ends with a number of recommendations to improve the current R.C.M.P. regime. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration