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Democracy, good governance, human rights and socio-economic development are critical matters for South Africa and Africa as a whole. Our aim is to provide a forum where scholars, practitioners and policy-makers can debate the issues surrounding them and, in doing so, contribute to shared knowledge and insight.

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Disarming the dispirited South African: A critical analysis of the proposed ban on firearms for self-defence, pp 123-148

Written by Windell Nortje and Shane Hull

In South Africa, owning a firearm is a privilege and not a right. This privilege is regulated by the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000. In May 2021, the Minister of Police published the Firearms Control Amendment Bill (FCAB), 2021, which contains a section prohibiting individuals from obtaining a firearm for self-defence purposes. This article cha...

Recently published

Beyond labels: Executive action and the duty to consult, pp 93-122

The African Union’s quest for a “peaceful and secure Africa”: An assessment of Aspiration Four of Agenda 2063, pp 55-92

Migration and climate change in Africa: A differentiated approach through legal frameworks on the free movement of people, pp 31-54

The right to privacy in the decriminalisation of psilocybin mushrooms in South Africa, pp 1-30

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“Dreams and aspirations deferred?”: The Constitutional Court’s approach to the fulfilment of socio-economic rights in the Constitution

Written by Justice Steven Majiedt

Dean’s Distinguished Lecture delivered at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, 3 October 2022. The Dean’s Distinguished Lectures were initiated in 2015, with the following judges as speakers: Dikgang Moseneke (2015), Navi Pillay (2016), Edwin Cameron (2017), Bernard Ngoepe (2018) and Mahomed Navsa (2019). The onslaught of COVID-19 brought with it a temporary interruption to the Dean’s Distinguished Lectures. Justice Steven Majiedt, who presented the lecture in 2022, obtained the BA (law) and LLB degree from UWC in 1981 and 1983 respectively. In his lecture, Justice Majiedt emphasised the important role played by the Constitutional Court as apex court in giving effect to the fulfilment of socio-economic rights. The deferential path adopted by the court when adjudicating socio-economic rights issues was highlighted with reference to a reluctance to define minimum core obligations and an abiding recognition of the duty imposed upon the state in the progressive realisation of such rights that has been subsumed in the principle of reasonableness.