Quote of the week
Universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational values of our entire constitutional order. The achievement of the franchise has historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood. The universality of the franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it says that everybody counts. In a country of great disparities of wealth and power it declares that whoever we are, whether rich or poor, exalted or disgraced, we all belong to the same democratic South African nation; that our destinies are intertwined in a single interactive polity.
August and Another v Electoral Commission and Others (CCT8/99) [1999] ZACC 3
Calling prospective doctoral students
See the attached advertisement. If there is a highly motivated, disciplined and enthusiastic stduent out there interested in pursuing doctoral studies in Constitutional Law, feel free to contact me to discuss options.
APPLICATIONS FOR THE DOCTORAL AND RESEARCH MASTER’S PROGRAMMES
The Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Town hosts scholars and students from many nations and provides a highly interactive and friendly environment for study and research.
The Faculty has fast-growing doctoral and research Master’s programmes, and is seeking 15 highly motivated individuals to join these programmes in the following fields of research.
Public Law: Human Rights, Marine and Environmental Law, Law and Society, Sexual Offences, Women, Land Tenure and the Law, Evidence and Criminal Procedure.
Commercial Law: Labour Law, Corporations and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Private Law: African Customary Law, Jurisprudence, Legal Theory, Contract, Consumer
Protection, Property Law (especially Land, Minerals and Petroleum), Persons and Family,
Legal History, Legal Education, Delict, Unjustified Enrichment and Legal History.
Applicants for the positions should submit an application and the following documents online (https://www.uct.ac.za/) to the University of Cape Town:
• brief CVs
• transcripts of their qualifications (unless they are UCT graduates)
• the names and email addresses of two referees
• two to three page statements of the topics they wish to research.
Successful applicants for the advertised positions will be given probationary registration for a period of six months, during which time they will be required to finalise their thesis/dissertation proposals under the guidance of their supervisors. In addition, they will be required to participate in a two week preparatory course, and, thereafter, complete a ten week course on language and legal reasoning.
At the end of the period of probationary registration, final thesis/dissertation proposals must be submitted for consideration by the Faculty’s Higher Degrees Committee, which may then recommend entry into a doctoral or master’s programme or registration for a postgraduate diploma.
The Faculty will offer a scholarship to cover the tuition fees of the top ten applicants for a period of three years, subject to satisfactory progress. A limited number of NRF grantholder-linked scholarships will be available in African Customary Law, as well as Property Law.
Likely candidates will be invited for interviews, which will be held in Cape Town – or, if need be, by teleconference – in October 2012.
The closing date for applications is 4 September 2012.
For further information see http://www.doctoralprogram.uct.ac.za/
