The unruly horse: Reflections on the rule of law

Critics often say that certain aspects of South African law or of the South African societal structure constitute infringements of the rule of law. One is left by these critics with a general notion that the rule of law is some sort of Sollensprinzip applying to positive law, i.e. a criterion for the evaluation of legal rules and systems, and that mainly those measures which are being employed in South Africa to substantiate the policy of separate development in the field of race relations and most of the provisions for safeguarding state security are in conflict with its principles. As such this mystical concept is being used to bring the basic structure of the South African way of living into disrepute; and the urgency of the situation necessitates all who are compelled to plan their future in our sub-continent to take careful note of its exact meaning, function and contents. A philosophical survey of contemporary society within the context of the South African situation will therefore be incomplete if it were to omit an analysis of the rule of law

Abraham Kuyper en die reg op selfbeskikking van bevolkingsgroepe

Abraham Kuyper and the right to self-determination of peoples Sphere sovereignty as a principle that regulates the mutual relationships among different social institutions originated from the philosophy of John Althusius, and this idea is found again in one form or another in the theories of various German political and legal philosophers. However, the descriptive name of this principle derives from the Dutch politician, Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, who under the influence of Julius Stahl, confined the principle to church-state relationships. The special contribution of Abraham Kuyper was to extend sphere sovereignty to relationships among other social institutions. However, Kuyper did not distinguish precisely between the kinds of “circles” which in principle qualify for sphere sovereignty, and in the process he also included social communities among those with sphere sovereignty. An accurate distinction among social institutions that do qualify for sphere sovereignty and (unstructured) social communities that do not, derived from the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea of Herman Dooyeweerd. Kuyper’s perception of sphere sovereignty of social communities does correspond with the right to self-determination of ethnic, religious and linguistic communities as currently defined in international law. This right, however, does not include the right to secession from an existing state, but affords to the communities concerned the right to promote their culture, to testify to and practise their religion and to speak and apply their language without state interference

Reg en plig insake onregmatigheid

Dit gaan hier oor die vraag wat die wese van onregmatigheid/wederregtelikheid in privaatregtelike sin is. In die breë kan gekonstateer word dat onregmatigheid ’n kwalifikasie van die juridiese handeling is; en verder dat die onregmatigheid van ’n handeling geleë is in die strydigheid van daardie handeling met ’n gebod of verbod van die positiewe reg. Daaroor bestaan betreklik eenstemmigheid. Maar aangaande die vraag wat in hoofsaak deur spesifiek die privaatreg gebied en verbied word, aan die hand waarvan onregmatigheid in privaatregtelike sin na sy inhoud nader omskryf moet word, loop verskillende opvattinge wyd uiteen

Menseregte en menswaardigheid

Human rights and human dignity The concept of human rights includes a variety of entitlements which are commonly subdivided into natural rights of the individual, civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights and solidarity rights. It has come to be generally accepted that human rights are based on the principle of human dignity. However, there are instances where human dignity is not recognised as the basic norm of a bill of rights (for example in the USA), and from a Christian perspective human dignity does not represent the core element of being human. Dooyeweerd described the human person as above all being endowed par excellence with religiosity, while Timothy Jackson singled out “sanctity” as the most fundamental basis of human rights protection. This contribution focuses on the need for a Scriptural foundation of human rights

Sovereignty of ecclesiastical organisations - the case of the Moreleta park congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church

On 23 September 2010 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed down unanimous judgments in two similar cases, but reached completely opposite conclusions. Both cases dealt with dismissal of church employees based on aspects of their private lives. In Obst v Allemagne the ECHR ruled that the German Constitutional Court correctly upheld the dismissal of the Public Relations Director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints due to adultery. On the other hand, the ECHR ruled that the German Constitutional Court violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights when it upheld the dismissal of an organist and choir master of a catholic congregation due to adultery, despite the constitutional guarantee of religious autonomy in the German Basic Law. In South Africa, the Equality Court held that dismissal of an organist due to a homosexual relationship constituted unfair discrimination. While all forms of unfair discrimination must be rejected, legal compulsion may not be the answer to change the prejudices of religious groups. Persuasion should rather be based on ethical arguments, which may hold better results in the long term.http://www.dejure.up.ac.za/nf201

Nasionalisering van mineraleregte in Suid-Afrika

Die Wet op die Ontwikkeling van Minerale en Petroleum Hulpbronne, Wet 28 van 2002, het grondeienaars van hulle eiendomsreg ten aansien van onontginde minerale en petroleum produkte ontneem en bepaal nou dat minerale en petroleum hulpbronne “die gemeenskaplike erfenis van die hele bevolking van Suid-Afrika” is met die Staat as die bewaarder daarvan. Prospekteer- en mynregte ten aansien van “ongebruikte ou orde regte” en met betrekking tot die oorskakeling van “ou orde prospekteerregte” en “ou orde mynregte” na “nuwe orde” prospekteer en/of mynregte is onderworpe gestel aan ingrypende tydsbeperkings en veeleisende substantiewe voorwaardes wat deur die Minister van Minerale en Energie Aangeleenthede goedgekeur moet word. Terwyl die Staat in die verlede prospekteer- en mynregte gereguleer het, hoofsaaklik met die doel om veiligheid en omgewingsbewaring te bevorder, het die wetgewer nou streng vereistes gestel vir die vergunning van prospekteer en/of mynregte omdat dit eienaar geword het van minerale en petroleum hulpbronne – òf as personifikasie van “die bevolking van Suid-Afrika” òf as ’n openbare trustee van “die erfenis van die hele bevolking van Suid-Afrika”. Artikel 25 van die Grondwet van die Republiek van Suid-Afrika maak ’n onderskeid tussen ontneming van eiendom, wat nie die betaling van vergoeding deur die Staat vereis nie, en onteiening, waarvoor wel vergoeding betaal moet word. Dit word algemeen aanvaar dat onteiening bestaan uit ontneming plus ’n bykomstige element of bykomstige elemente. Daar is twee moontlike faktore wat ’n ontneming in onteiening kan omskep: òf die verkryging van eiendomsreg ten aansien van dit wat ontneem is deur ‘n ander entiteit, byvoorbeeld die Staat, òf soos wat in Artikel 25 aangedui word, deur die ontneming van die eienaar se regte in die openbare belang of vir ’n openbare doel. In hierdie artikel word geargumenteer dat die ontneming van minerale en petroleum hulpbronne onder enigeen van die twee persepsies op onteiening neerkom. On 1 May 2004, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act1 (MPRDA), entered into force. The MPRDA transformed the state of South African mineral law quite considerably. It abolished the existing mineral law, introduced a new system relating to the exploration and 1 28http://www.dejure.up.ac.za

Constitutional protection of the right to education

Education is important: education takes place in the family environment; education through exposure to the public domain; education by the mass media; education within the enclave of public entertainment and theatrical performances, and much more. Most important, though, in the context of the present survey is education in schools and other educational institutions.am2013ai201

Prosecuting the President of Sudan : a dispute between the African Union and the international criminal court

South Africa's relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy would not have been possible without the prevalence of a spirit of solidarity (ubuntu), not only within South Africa but across the continent, since it is largely due to African solidarity with the struggle against apartheid that an enabling environment for negotiation could be created. Therefore, the importance of including the unique and unprecedented solidarity rights of peoples in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights cannot be emphasised enough. The rights of peoples - to existence, equality, self-determination, sovereignty over natural resources, peace and security, development and a satisfactory environment - were included in the African Charter for historical and philosophical reasons rooted uniquely in the African experience. The recognition of these rights has been resisted in other parts of the world along the lines of ideological division drawn during the Cold War. Solidarity rights, founded on the philosophy of African humanism, did not fit into the Cold War jurisprudential dichotomy, which featured, at the one extreme, the Western emphasis on liberty, rights and competition and, at the other extreme, the Eastern emphasis on equality, duties and compulsion. The solidarity rights rather represented an African emphasis on fraternity, reciprocity and compassion. African humanism has been applied in practice as a viable and valuable legal philosophy, particularly by the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Solidarity rights in the African Charter are similarly applicable as viable and valuable legal constructs, and therefore their precise contents and consequences may and must be explored through practical enforcement.http://www.jutalaw.co.za/catalogue/itemdisplay.jsp?item_id=3591nf201

Prosecuting terrorism in international tribunals

This Article explores the feasibility of prosecuting terrorism in international tribunals considering, respectively, the above three principles. Part I shows that terrorism comprises willful acts of violence directed against civilians with the intent to spread terror within a civilian population, plus the further intent for such terror to be the instrument through which the perpetrators seek to intimidate the powers that be into submitting to certain (mostly) political, ideological, or religious demands. Part II shows that the subject matter jurisdiction of some, but not all, international tribunals includes international terrorism. Part III seeks to discredit the view that a certain noble cause can legitimize terror violence as an instrument to realize such causes.http://www.law.emory.edu/eil

The Al Bashir debacle

This article deals with the failure of states to comply with their obligation to execute the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of President Omar Hassan Ahmed Al Bashir of Sudan. President Al Bashir is to stand trial on serious charges, including acts of genocide, based on action taken on instructions of President Al Bashir to eliminate nationals of Sudan who are not of Arab extraction. President Al Bashir may be depicted as the Adolph Hitler of Africa by virtue of his efforts to create a Sudanese Herrenvolk and, in the process, causing the death of between 200 000 and 400 000 members of African tribes in the Sudanese province of Darfur and the displacement of approximately 2,5 million people. A special focus of the article is the hosting of President Al Bashir by the South African government in June 2015 at a summit of the African Union in Johannesburg, in blatant defiance of the rule of law, and escorting him out of the country in contempt of an order of the High Court, Gauteng Division. South Africa claimed that its obligations as a member state of the African Union prevented it from executing the warrant of arrest. However, South Africa was compelled to execute the warrant of arrest (a) as a state party to the ICC Statute; (b) because the Security Council had instructed all member states of the United Nations to do so, and (c) because South Africa’s own Rome Statute Implementation Act, 2002 requires it of South African authorities. Claiming that President Al Bashir as a head of state enjoyed sovereign immunity is also based on a false premise, since sovereign immunity does not apply to prosecutions in international tribunals. Maintaining that President Al Bashir is immune from prosecution in the ICC is criticised in the article.http://reference.sabinet.co.za/sa_epublication/ju_ahrljhb201