Mark of the 20th anniversary of the SA Interim Constitution

The University of the Western Cape's Community Law Centre played an important role in the drafting of the Interim and the Final Constitution and is proud to host a conference to mark the anniversary of the Interim Constitution.

Africa is experiencing an unprecedented wave of constitution making. Many countries have recently completed or are undergoing constitutional reforms. Examples are Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Tunesia and Egypt. At the same time, South Africa is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Interim Constitution, an opportunity to reflect and share lessons with other countries undergoing transition.

Constitution building is more than just drafting and adopting legal provisions. Recent developments in Zimbabwe and Egypt show that drafting and adopting a Constitution is complicated and by no means a guarantee for peace and stability.

This why the University of the Western Cape's (UWC) Community Law Centre is hosting an international conference on constitution building in Africa on 6 September 2013.It takes place at UWC, as part of the African Human Rights Moot Court competition, hosted by UWC's Law Faculty in partnership with the University of Pretoria's Centre for Human Rights.

The Conference, which is sponsored by the Ford Foundation, centres around four themes:
• Limiting the power of the state;
• Designing state institutions that serve the country;
• How to achieve a democratic and inclusive process of constitution making; and
• Making a constitution work

More than 250 participants from across the continent will attend a plenary debate between Valli Moosa, Dr Sydney Mufamadi and Prof Yash Pal Ghai about the relevance of South Africa's transition for current constitution building efforts elsewhere on the continent. The debate will be facilitated by Prof Nico Steytler, the South African Research Chair in Multilevel government Law and Policy.

Subsequent to that, more than 30 papers on the above four themes will be delivered in various commissions.

The Conference will be broadcast live via the internet (Webinars). The audience can also follow the conference proceedings on Twitter and Facebook. There will also be a Youtube Video which will be produced at the end of the conference. Please follow #ConstitutionAfrica on Facebook and Twitter to be part of the conversation.

For more information on the conference people can visit Community Law Centre Website