2007 Archive of Front Page News
December 2007
SAIFAC Deputy Director Redson Kapindu presents seminar at SAIFAC on ‘Towards the Full Realisation of Economic and Social Rights of Refugees: Challenges and Prospects'
December 2007
SAIFAC Doctoral Fellow Solomon Dersso presents seminar at SAIFAC on ‘Taking Ethnic Diversity Seriously in Constitutional Design'.
December 2007
SAIFAC LLM student David Maphakela presents University of the Witwtaersrand LLM research report entitled ‘ In Defence of an Independent Judiciary through a Judicially Controlled Budget'.
November 2007
Professor Kenneth Norrie of Strathclyde University Law School presents paper on ‘South Africa’s Civil Union Act 2006: Reflections of a Bemused Outsider’
November 2007
Theunis Roux presents paper at IACL Round table conference on Writing and Reading Constitutions: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Japanese Constitution, Yokohama. Download copy of paper here.
November 2007
Iain Benson, Executive Director, Centre for Cultural Renewal, Ottowa, presents paper on ‘Re-understanding the Secular and Secularism: A New Paradigm Shift for Beliefs and Culture – Reflections from Canada’. Download copy of paper here.
November 2007
Justice Rizine Mzikamanda of the Malawi High Court presents sabbatical research paper on ‘The Independence of the Judiciary and the Rule of Law in Africa’. Download copy of paper here.
November 2007
Sebastian Seedorf commences one-year contract at SAIFAC as Senior Researcher funded by the Centrum für Internationale Migration und Entwicklung. During his time at SAIFAC, Dr Seedorf will be researching current developments in German constitutional law of relevance to South Africa.
November 2007
Redson Kapindu commences work as new SAIFAC Deputy Director. Mr Kapindu comes to SAIFAC from the Malawi Human Rights Commission. He intends registering for a PhD on socio-economic rights and refugees at the University of the Witwatersrand.
November 2007
George Mukundi participates in 42nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Congo, Brazzaville.
October 2007
Eighth meeting of the SAIFAC Board of Trustees held at the Old Fort, Constitution Hill
September 2007
Theunis Roux attends conference on Privacy and Open Access to the Law on the Internet organised by the Southern African Legal Information Institute (September 2007. For more about SAFLII, and access to a comprehensive database of African court judgments, visit www.saflii.org.za.
September 2007
Ngwako Raboshakga announced as next participant in SAIFAC’s LLM Studentship Programme for 2008. Ngwako is a law graduate of Wits University who has spent the last year clerking for Justice Bess Nkabinde of the Constitutional Court.
September 2007
Doctoral fellow George Mukundi appointed General Secretary of the Global Alliance on Justice Education (GAJE) for an initial period of six months. GAJE is an association of persons committed to achieving justice through education. For more information on GAJE visit www.gaje.org.
September 2007
Sebastian Seedorf appointed as Senior Researcher at SAIFAC for one year, commencing on 1 November 2007. Dr Seedorf will be granted leave of absence from the German Federal Ministry of the Interior where he works in the Counter-terrorism Directorate. During his time at SAIFAC, Dr Seedorf will conduct research on issues in German public law of relevance to South Africa.
September 2007
Justice Rizine Robert Mzikamanda of the Malawi High Court arrives to spend a two-month sabbatical at SAIFAC researching ‘The Place of Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in African Democracies’.
September 2007
Theunis Roux participates in Goedgedacht Forum for Social Reflection Core Dialogue 4: ‘How will our democratic institutions respond to the presidential succession?’ For more on the Goedgedacht Forum visit www.goedgedacht.org.za.
September 2007
Liora Lazarus, Lecturer in Human Rights and Fellow of St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, spends two weeks at SAIFAC pursuing her research interest in the right to security in international and comparative constitutional law. Liora is the co-editor, with Benjamin J. Goold, of Security and Human Rights (Hart Publishing, 2007). See www.hartpub.co.uk.
September 2007
SAIFAC awarded grant by the Shell Energy South Africa (Pty) Ltd to establish research project on Business and Human Rights. This will be a one-year project in the first instance, including a launch conference planned for March 2008. For more on this project, contact David Bilchitz davidb@saifac.org.za.
August 2007
Theunis Roux completes chapter on ‘The Arbitrary Deprivation Vortex: Constitutional Property Law after FNB’ for inclusion in Stuart Woolman et al Constitutional Conversations (Pretoria University Law Press, forthcoming 2008). Download copy of paper here
August 2007
Professor Heidi Puttler of the Ruhr University, Bochum presents seminar at SAIFAC on ‘The Future of the European Constitution’.
August 2007
Theunis Roux participates in panel discussion on land reform at the No. 4 Lekgotla space on Constitution Hill marking the launch of Deborah James’s book, Gaining Ground? ‘Rights’ and ‘Property’ in South African Land Reform (Wits University Press, 2007). For more on this book visit http://witspress.wits.ac.za.
July 2007
David Bilchitz’s book, Poverty and Fundamental Rights: The Justification and Enforcement of Socio-Economic Rights (Oxford UP, 2007) launched at a function held in the Constitutional Court foyer. Guest speakers include Theunis Roux of SAIFAC and Justice Edwin Cameron of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Download copies of their presentations here and here respectively. For more about this book visit www.oup.co.uk.
July 2007
Conference in honour of Emeritus Justice Laurie Ackermann, founder and Chairman of SAIFAC Board of Trustee’s held at the University of Cape Town. Download copy of conference programme here. Download copy of Theunis Roux’s paper on ‘The Dignity of Comparative Law’ here.
July 2007
Solomon Dersso presents paper on ‘Minority Rights under Law: From Liberal Individualism to Multiculturalism and Beyond’ at the Law & Society Association annual conference in Berlin, Germany. Download copy of paper here.
July 2007
Godfrey Musila guest lectures during the two week Top Summer School for PhD Students in International Criminal Law at the Grotius Center for International Legal Studies, University of Leiden
July 2007
Redson Kapindu appointed as the first Deputy Director of SAIFAC, to commence work in November 2007. Redson will join SAIFAC from the Malawi Human Rights Commission, where he has been the Director of Legal Services since 2003.
July 2007
Sabbatical Fellow Loretta Feris completes research paper on ‘Constitutional Environmental Rights: An Underutilised Resource’. Download copy of paper here.
June/July 2007
Theunis Roux and Jonathan Klaaren of the University of the Witwatersrand present four-week course in Advanced Constitutional Jurisprudence and Litigation at the Wits Winter Law School. Download copy of course outline here.
July 2007
Mmatsie Mooki attends research findings report on Chapter 9 Institutions organized by the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA).
June 2007
Mmatsie Mooki presents paper on 'The development of women's rights and women's rights litigation in South Africa' at the Southern Africa Women's Rights Workshop on Advancing Women's Rights in Africa – Consolidating Gains organized by AHRAJ and ICJ ( Kenya ).
June 2007
VIIth IACL World Congress held in Athens, Greece. Download copy of Theunis Roux’s closing remarks as Secretary-General here. For copies of all conference and workshop papers, visit www.enelsyn.gr.
June 2007
Theunis Roux presents paper on ‘Principle and Pragmatism on the Constitutional Court of South Africa’ at VIIth IACL World Congress workshop on the Judicial Review of Politically Sensitive Questions. Download abstract of paper here.
June 2007
Solomon Dersso attends Summer Institute of Law & Society at the University of Massachusetts as Observer Faculty.
June 2007
David Bilchitz presents seminar on ‘The challenges and possibilities the Civil Union Act creates for family law in South Africa’. The seminar is based on a paper co-authored with Melanie Judge and Fikile Vilikazi. Download copy of framework of presentation here.
June 2007
Godfrey Musila's article entitled 'United States of Africa: positioning the Pan African Parliament and African Court of Justice in the Political Union Debate' is published by the Institute for Security Studies. See www.issafrica.org
May 2007
Werner Scholtz joins SAIFAC as a Research Associate. Werner is an Associate Professor at Potchefstroom University. He has also lectured in Germany and in 2006 was a guest fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. His area of research is international environmental law.
May 2007
Solomon Dersso presents seminar on recent Constitutional Court decision in the Masiya case (constitutionality of common-law rape definition). Download copy of seminar paper here.
May 2007
Sharon Brink, a PhD student at the University of Stellenbosch, arrives to spend two weeks at SAIFAC. Her PhD research topic is ‘Subsistence Fishing Rights: A Move Towards Just and Effective Regulation’.
April 2007
African Network of Constitutional Law conference on Fostering Constitutionalism in Africa held in Nairobi. Download programme here. For more information on the Network visit www.iacl-aidc.org or e-mail the Secretary-General, Danwood Chirwa, at the University of Cape Town (chirwad@law.uct.ac.za).
April 2007
Ruthann Robson of the City University of New York Law School, and Bram Fischer Professor Visiting at the University of the Witwatersrand Law School, presents seminar on the question: ‘Is there anything left to say about judicial review?’ The seminar is the first in a new SAIFAC seminar series on constitutional theory and the nature of South African constitutional democracy.
April 2007
Seventh meeting of SAIFAC Board of Trustees held in Cape Town.
April 2007
SAIFAC workshop on Minority and Indigenous Rights held at the University of Pretoria. Distinguished participants include Professor Martin Schein of Abo Akademi University, Finland, and Professor James Anaya of Arizona State University, United States. For further information on the workshop and access to the papers presented, contact Solomon Dersso (solomon@saifac.org.za).
April 2007
Raylene Keightley of the Johannesburg Bar presents joint SA Human Rights Commission/SAIFAC seminar on recent Constitutional Court judgments relating to the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Her respondent is Willie Hofmeyr, head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit. Download copy of presentation here.
April 2007
SAIFAC LLM Student Mduduzi Skhosana presents seminar on recent Constitutional Court decision in Giddey NO v Barnard & Partners.
April 2007
Enyinna Nwauche presents seminar on ‘The Public Interest in South African Copyright Law’. Download framework of presentation here
April 2007
Mmatsie Mooki arrives from North-West University, Mafikeng campus, to commence three-year Doctoral Fellowship at SAIFAC. The topic of Mmatsie’s proposed LLD is Legal Access to Abortion in SADC from a Reproductive and Sexual Health Perspective: A Need for Reform?
March 2007
Final interviews for new German Researcher position at SAFAC held in Frankfurt.
March 2007
SAIFAC LLM Student David Maphakela presents internal seminar on Constitutional Court judgment in African Christian Democratic Party v Electoral Commission.
March 2007
SAIFAC Doctoral Fellow Godfrey Musila attends follow-up week of the Marie Curie Research Course 2006-2007 at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, The Hague.
March 2007
Theunis Roux attends Executive Committee meeting of the IACL in Bologna, and Roundtable conference on Constitutions and Culture(s) in Ravenna.
March 2007
SAIFAC Doctoral Fellow Godfrey Musila presents internal seminar on ‘Victims in domestic criminal justice systems: Some lessons for the ICC’, chapter 5 of his draft doctoral thesis on Restorative Justice in International Criminal Law: Centralising the Role of Victims in the International Criminal Court Process.
February 2007
Laurie Ackermann and Theunis Roux give presentation on SAIFAC to academics and postgraduate students at the University of Pretoria Law Faculty and the University of the Witwatersrand Law School.
February 2007
David Bilchitz and Solomon Dersso present papers at Centre for European Public Law/UNISA conference on Organization of Justice and Protection of Fundamental Rights in South Africa and the European Union, Old Fort, Constitution Hill.
February 2007
Davi Bilchitz commences work as a Senior Researcher at SAIFAC. David’s areas of research interest include poverty and socio-economic rights, the nature of rights, the South African Civil Unions Act, and animal rights.
February 2007
Theunis Roux presents paper on ‘Tactical Adjudication: How the Constitutional Court Survived its First Decade’ at a SOAS/UKZN conference on Law, Nation-building and Transformation in Durban. Download copy of draft paper here.
February 2007
Professor Enyinna Nwauche of Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, arrives to commence two-month sabbatical fellowship researching the interaction between human rights and intellectual property law.
January 2007
Loretta Feris of the University of Pretoria starts sabbatical fellowship at SAIFAC. During her time at SAIFAC Professor Feris will be pursuing various projects relating to her research interest in environmental law and international trade.
January 2007
David Maphakhela and Mduduzi Skhosana commence one-year LLM Studentship at SAIFAC funded by the Nedbank Foundation.