On 3 August, millions of voters will exercise their right to vote and decide who controls South Africa’s 257 municipalities. The stakes are high because municipalities deal with basic services and parties are competing for control of powerful cities, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and eThekwini.
The director of the Dullah Omar Institute, Prof Jaap de Visser gave an enlightening seminar on Multilevel government in South Africa. This took place at EURAC in Italy, where he is guest researcher for the month of July.
South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy offers two full-time doctoral (LLD or DPhil) bursaries, commencing in the 2017 academic year. The study may focus on South Africa’s system of cooperative government, including provincial and local government, fiscal relations, and comparative federalism.
Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur, who is currently an Acting Director of the Dullah Omar Institute, Faculty of Law, at the University of the Western Cape was elected into UN Committee on the Rights of the Child with the highest votes of 152 states together with Mikiko Otani from Japan. Mezmur is being re-elected into the Committee for a second term. He currently serves as its Chairperson, a position he was elected into by his colleagues in the Committee last year May, when he became the youngest, and the first Chairperson of the Committee from Africa in almost 15 years.
A comprehensive audit of the criminal justice system in Kenya points toward avenues for reform.
Figuring out where reforms should be targeted requires a thorough understanding of human rights and how those are reflected in national constitutions. Measuring the progress of reform efforts requires an understanding of indicators and measurement. A CSRPI-PPJA workshop held in June 2016 aimed to raise the bar on both.
Prof Jaap de Visser, Director of the Dullah Omar Institute, joins the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) as a visiting scholar from 26June to 19 July. EURAC is an independent research centre in Bozen/Bolzano inSouth Tyrol, Italy. It houses various institutes on public management, minority rights, federalism but also alpine environment, biomedicite, renewable energy etc
The Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs intends to introduce the Local Government: Municipal Structures Amendment Bill, 2016 in the National Assembly. Before introducing the bill, the ministry invited members of the public to submit written comments on this Amendment Bill, and Jaap de Visser and Nico Steytler, both professors at the Dullah Omar Institute submitted their comments.
At a seminar held in Nairobi, representatives from the National Council heard the findings, provided input and validated the finalisation of a comprehensive audit of the criminal justice system in Kenya. The report was prepared by Legal Resources Foundation Kenya, Resources Oriented Development Initiative Kenya, and CSPRI.
The national government, provinces and municipalities play key roles in development and deepening of democracy. However, they face serious challenges: intergovernmental conflicts, maladministration and corruption. A key event will be the local government elections of August 2016, indicating the importance of metropolitan governments as well as the sphere of local government as a whole. This unique, full-time programme deals with the law, policy and practice of multi-level government in South Africa. It combines class room teaching with a practical internship at an institution multilevel government (including municipalities, province, Parliament).
This is the first issue of the ESR Review in 2016. It includes three feature articles. The first, by Yuri Ramkissoon, reflects on the lessons from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on the importance of realising economic and social rights in alleviating poverty and ensuring transformation. The article highlights some of the positive and negative obligations placed on the state by the Bill of Rights and then turns to the lessons learned by the SAHRC over 20 years of data collection on economic and social cultural rights.
The national Department of Human Settlements is preparing a new White Paper on Human Settlements. The new White Paper will lead to new legislation and the repeal of the Housing Act of 1997. Together with the South African Local Government Association, the Department is hosting a series of roundtables to debate the new policy. On 31 May, Jaap de Visser delivered a presentation to the Roundtable on Planning, Design and Development of Integrated Human Settlements.
