Quote of the week
An ‘important purpose of section 34 [of the Constitution] is to guarantee the protection of the judicial process to persons who have disputes that can be resolved by law’ and that the right of access to court is ‘foundational to the stability of an orderly society. It ensures the peaceful, regulated and institutionalised mechanisms to resolve disputes, without resorting to self-help. The right of access to court is a bulwark against vigilantism, and the chaos and anarchy which it causes. Construed in this context of the rule of law and the principle against self-help in particular, access to court is indeed of cardinal importance’.The right guaranteed s34 would be rendered meaningless if court orders could be ignored with impunity:the underlying purposes of the right — and particularly that of avoidance of self-help — would be undermined if litigants could decide which orders they wished to obey and which they wished to ignore.
Victoria Park Ratepayers' Association v Greyvenouw CC and others (511/03) [2003] ZAECHC 19 (11 April 2003)
Equal Education Seminar: Was SA sold out in 1994?
EE Seminar – “Was SA Sold Out in 1994? Economic Choices at the Transition?”
This Thursday Equal Education will be hosting a seminar about the nature of the economic transition in South Africa in the early 1990s. The topic is titled: “Was South Africa sold out in 1994? A public debate on the economic choices at the time of the transition.”
This was prompted by an article (“How the ANC’s Faustian pact sold out South Africa’s poorest“) written by Ronnie Kasrils in the Gaurdian in which he asserts that the ANC had, in the past, failed to make favourable decisions which would lead to more radical economic change in South Africa. He continues by stating that these decisions, in the transitory period of 1990, resulted in deepened inequality and poverty.
The panel includes Ronnie Kasrils (Former Minister of Intelligence and ANC NEC member), Rob Petersen (Adv of the High Court of South Africa) and Yoliswa Dwane (Chairperson of Equal Education). The session will be chaired by Fatima Hassan (Executive Director of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa).
Details:
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, Humanities Graduate Building, University of Cape Town
Time: 17:30 – 19:30
