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
UCT Law Invitation, 23 January 2016: Race, Law and Transformation
Issues of race and transformation of legal education is the focus of a programme to be hosted at the University of Cape Town on Saturday January 23rd, 2016. This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited and an RSVP is recommended.
The first panel, entitled Race, Law and Transformation, will examine the issues of race and the unfinished business of transformation as articulated in the South African constitution. The panelists will address these issues against the backdrop of widespread protests in South Africa in the past few years linked to service delivery and other issues, as well as the widespread student protests at the University of Cape Town and elsewhere. Panelists include University of Cape Town Professors Waheeda Amien and Pierre de Vos, University of the Witwatersrand Professors Achille Mbembe and Ntombizozuko Dyani-Mhango, and Professor Kendall Thomas of Columbia Law School. The panel will be moderated by Judge Shehnaz Meer, Acting Judge President of the Land Claims Court.
The second panel, entitled Transformation of Legal Education will address the possibilities and limitations of the law school curriculum and law school pedagogy. It will seek to challenge historical and contemporary approaches to the training of legal professionals, to address the question whether law schools are in fact giving voice to the transformative potential of the constitution. Panelists include Professor Managay Reddi, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Judge Dennis Davis, Cape High Court, Professor Lesley Greenbaum, University of Cape Town Faculty of Law, Professor Geo Quinot, University of Stellenbosch Faculty of Law, and Mr. Joel Modiri, University of Pretoria Faculty of Law. The panel will be moderated by Professor Bernard Martin, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape.
The event is the initiative of the incoming Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Penelope Andrews, and will take place at the Kramer School of Law, Middle Campus, University of Cape Town, from 9.00 a.m. to 1.15 p.m. with a refreshment break at 11.00 a.m. Please RSVP toPauline.Alexander@uct.ac.za
