The Dullah Omar Institute's Women and Democracy Initiative, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation and Public Service Accountability Monitor convened a Forum on Accountability of the Parliament Administration [FAPA] for civil society and the media on 22 January in Cape Town. The forum was to develop a civil society approach to Parliament Administration Accountability.
On 20 and 21 February 2019, the Socio-Economic Rights project hosted a Community Leaders Workshop. Given the important roles community leaders play in facilitating and realising access to justice for vulnerable and marginalised groups in society, the aim of this workshop was to empower community leaders by equipping them with information on the link between elections and service delivery.
The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation [IJR], the Dullah Omar Institute [DOI], the Public Service Accountability Monitor [PSAM], and a growing number of civil society organisations have noted with serious concern the recent Protest Suicide of Lennox Mzuhleli Garane, Section Manager: Multilateral Relations in International Relations and Protocol Division of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa. Mr. Garane died by Protest Suicide in his office on the Parliament Precinct on 14 September 2018. We wish to extend our sincere condolences to the Garane family for their tragic loss.
The Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights at the Faculty of Law, University of Western Cape is pleased to announce a one-year fulltime post-doctoral fellowship for 2019. The post-doctoral fellow will be based at the Children’s Rights Project. The fellow will be tasked with conducting research in areas related to children’s rights, especially with a focus on issues pertaining to the African Union. The fellow will also be expected to produce at least three publications.
Municipal debt to Eskom has reportedly reached R17 billion. The rate of growth has however shifted from exponential to linear.
The Equality Court sitting in Cape Town has made a declaration of unfair discrimination, in the allocation of police resources in the Western Cape. The evidence of ACJR researcher Jean Redpath assisted the court in reaching this conclusion.
South Africa’s Constitution contains a wide range of socio-economic rights. In 2015, expanding and deepening South Africa’s commitment to the realization of socio-economic rights, the South African Government ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). On international human rights day today we draw attention to recent commitments made by the South African Government, which, if kept, will contribute significantly to the eradication of inequality and elimination of poverty in South Africa. We call on the South African government to keep these commitments.
Juta Law caught up with Prof Nico Steytler to chat about his role as editor of The BRICS Partnership: Challenges and Prospects for Multilevel Government.
On 23 November 2018, the Dullah Omar Institute hosted a roundtable discussion on the role of corporations in the realisation of human rights in South Africa. The roundtable discussion brought together different stakeholders including academic, social justice activists, representatives from civil society organisations and human rights lawyers involved in the business and human rights sectors.
Parliament will close another four portfolio committee meetings to the public between 26 November until 4 December before the national legislature wraps up for its recess period. This follows at least two letters written to the Speaker’s office in Parliament raising concerns over closing meetings to the public. However, a collective of civil society organisations under Parliament Watch, sections of the media and individuals are still waiting on a response to the concerns they raised. Parliament has since indicated it is still drafting a response to the concerns raised in the letter. So, what are these concerns?
Outrage alone will not save our children from harm and neglect but fixing the tools for social protection of children will be a good start. This is how some MPs in Parliament recently responded to the department of social development’s figures showing multimillion-rand underspending on programmes like foster care grants. MPs across the political spectrum in the Portfolio Committee on Social Development raised concern and demanded answers over the department’s under expenditure on social assistance totalling almost R900 million. This concern however, did not necessarily translate into decisive demands for action in the department’s Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR).
As the proposed constitutional amendments to allow land expropriation without compensation is facing its first court challenge, Parliament now has another opportunity to deal with its legislative mandate’s great Achilles' heel – meaningful public participation. On November 15 after nationwide public hearings spanning over two months the Joint Constitutional Review Committee in Parliament adopted its report in favour of amending section 25 of the Constitution. Lobby group Afriforum however, launched a court application to have this report set aside citing serious concerns over the public participation process.
