The Supreme Court of Appeal judgment means that South Africa’s president must be prosecuted - unless the national director of public prosecutions decides again to drop the charges against him.
Articles on South African law
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According to South Africa’s department of international relations, Grace Mugabe didn’t have immunity when she entered the country.
There is no basis in customary, conventional international law or domestic law for the spouse of a head of state to claim - as a right - some form of immunity when visiting a foreign state.
The contentious book documenting Nelson Mandela’s last days that was pulled of the shelves left many unanswered questions. Judgement must be suspended until it’s content is made public.
What South Africa’s opposition parties want Parliament and the courts to do would damage the country’s democracy.
If South Africa’s argument in court is that marijuana causes harm, it deserves to lose. The real question it should ask is whether criminal prohibition is the effective way forward.
The judgment recognises that religion plays a large role in South African society. The right to follow a religion is embedded in the constitution. This means that South Africa isn’t a secular state.
The public protector’s proposal to change the mandate of South Africa’s Reserve Bank goes well beyond changing individual rules to overturning their very foundation, anchored in the Constitution.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court has the difficult task of deciding whether MPs can have the protection of a secret ballot when voting whether to fire President Zuma or not.
President Jacob Zuma’s grounds for appeal are surreal. He invokes the meaning of a rule set by the apartheid context he ferociously fought against, to justify his executive action in a democracy.
Although South Africa has taken steps to rid itself of the apartheid-era view of marriage as only heterosexual and monogamous, discrimination against religious marriages persist.
A civil society organisation, OGOD, wants South Africa’s public schools to stop calling themselves Christian and to outlaw their religious practices.
The clash over South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill is essentially about custom and constitutionalism. The government is often seen as pandering to traditional leaders’ whims.
Are those ANC members critical of Zuma willing to stand up and be counted? Will Pravin Gordhan, popular hero of the hour, provide one further great service to the nation?
The growing incidence of racism on social media in South Africa suggests that there are consequences. Whether there ought to be criminal sanctions remains an ongoing debate.
Arguably Africa’s most powerful diplomatic player, South Africa is now backing out of the world’s most important mechanism for bringing war criminals to justice.
The public protector needs to be “fit and proper”. That means he or she must be honest, reliable and have integrity.These qualities cannot be assessed through an interview and background checks only.
The ghost of ‘Khwezi’ – the woman who accused Jacob Zuma of rape in 2006 – continues to haunt him, just as the spectre of rape continues to haunt South Africa.
Mining proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.
Under South African law, murder carries a minimum sentence of 15 years for first-time offenders. But courts may deviate from this if they find ‘substantial and compelling circumstances’ to do so.
Top contributors
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Emeritus Associate Professor in Public Law, UCT. Visiting Adjunct Professor, WITS School of Governance; Director, Africa Programme, University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge
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Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor Emeritus of Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor of African legal pluralism, University of the Western Cape
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Professor of Law, New York Law School
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Executive Dean and Full Professor, Faculty of Management and Law, University of Limpopo
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Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor of Digital Society, University of Glasgow
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Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Fort Hare
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Professor of Legal Pluralism, Religious Family Laws, and Human Rights, University of Cape Town
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Senior researcher, University of Cape Town
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Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa
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Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
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Claude Leon Foundation Chair in Constitutional Governance, University of Cape Town
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Associate Professor of Commercial Law, University of Cape Town