During the 2014 annual general meeting, the Community Law Centre bid farewell to its board member, Professor Renfrew Christie as he retires from the University of the Western Cape as the Dean of Research.
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Last week, a researcher at the Community Law Centre’s Children’s Rights Project, Dr Aquinaldo Mandlate delivered an expert paper on the protection of children’s rights in the African regional system. The paper focused on the normative framework and the institutional mechanisms to advance children’s rights in Africa. It was presented during a children’s rights seminar hosted by the Law Faculty at the Universidade Agostinho Neto in Luanda, Angola.
When there is formation of a federation, there will usually be a dispute on where the capital should be, these are the words from Professor Nico Steytler the Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Policy at the Community Law Centre.
As South Africa’s executive under the ANC government has been enlarged and strengthened, proposed changes to the country’s national parliament seem set to weaken its capacity for oversight.
On Tuesday 3 June 2014, hundreds of people occupying a piece of land at Nomzamo settlement in Strand woke up to the shock of their lives when their homes were razed down and violently evicted from a piece of land they were occupying. The Socioeconomic Rights Project at the Community Law Centre (CLC), University of the Western Cape expresses its deep concern regarding the manner of eviction of residents of Lwandle, Strand, who were purportedly to be illegally occupying a piece of land belonging to SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral).
The Multilevel Government Initiative at the Community Law Centre’s views on the Infrastructure Development Bill, currently before Parliament, featured strongly at the Infrastructure Dialogue of 6 February.
The director of Community Law Centre wrote an opinion article addressing the issue where some officials expressed concerns over the opening of an Adult World sex shop right in front of parliament.
The Multilevel Government Initiative (MLGI) of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) released a research report, Operation Clean Audit 2014: Why it Failed and What Can Be Learned, and its companion OCA 2014 Barometer, which extracts key statistical information from the report.
Four out of five people in the world do not have access to comprehensive social security and 50% of these live in absolute poverty and majority of these people live in Africa. This is according to Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi, Socio-Economic Rights Project researcher at the Community Law Centre when delivering a statement at African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at the 55th Ordinary Session.
The Community Law Centre’s Children’s Rights Project is calling for consultants to produce a concept note for the commemoration of the Day of the African Child (DAC) 2015 on the theme, “25 Years after the Adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our Collective Efforts to End Child Marriage in Africa”.
Community Law Centre's Multilevel Government Initiative (MLGI) made an analysis on the 2014 Election which recently took place in South Africa, in an article titled, “Election 2014: The coming battle for control of the big cities.” This article is part of the Talking Good Governance blog by MLGI.
Community Law Centre’s researcher, Clare Ballard, yesterday delivered a report and presented a submission, which dealt with independent oversight of the police at the Khayelitsha Commission. This is a commission of inquiry into allegations of police inefficient in Khayelitsha and a breakdown of relations between the community and the police in Khayelitsha. According to her report issues of the effective oversight of police stations and investigations into SAPS were raised during the course of the Khayelitsha Commission’s (the Commission) phase 1 hearings.
If policing burden were distributed equally, then police human resources should be distributed through a per capita method, for example, population size determines relative resourcing. This is according to Jean Redpath, a researcher at Community Law Centre’s Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative, when giving a submission at the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of Police Inefficient in Khayelitsha and a Breakdown of Relations between the Community and the Police in Khayelitsha, yesterday.
This first issue of the 2014 ESR Review focusses on the potential of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a tool for poverty reduction in South Africa. It also looks at Developing Cape Town’s right to housing in the rental sector. There are also summaries of recent developments on socio-economic rights across the world.
Former Constitutional Court Judge reflected on Oliver Tambo’s vision and contribution to South Africa’s constitution. He did this during the 9th Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture which took place on 25 March at the University of the Western Cape.
It is clear that South Africa needs to urgently ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The ratification would strengthen the domestic protection of economic, social and cultural rights in South Africa through policy, legislation (laws) and jurisprudence (decisions of court).
On 25 March 2014, the Community Law Centre hosted the 9th Dullah Omar Lecture which was delivered by former constitutional court judge Albie Sachs. The lecture was titled “Speaking to Oliver Tambo's Ghost: Twenty Years into Democracy".
On 25 February 2014, the socio-economic rights project (SERP) of the Community Law Centre in conjunction with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) conducted a human rights workshop at Blikkiesdorp. Blikkiesdorp is a temporary relocation area in Delft, Cape Town.
The director of the Community Law Centre, Prof Jaap de Visser, was selected as one of the participants to unpack the laws, regulations, and the informal city where urban planning and design is concerned.
The Multilevel Government Initiative (MLGI) of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape launched its ‘Talking Good Governance’ (TGG) blog. TGG aims to deepen intellectual debate on good governance by making current research accessible to the public and policy makers.
On 3 March, Dr Aquinaldo Mandlate from the Children’s Rights Project of the Community Law Centre (University of the Western Cape) spoke on the system of protection of human rights in Africa, during a two day workshop on human rights which took place in Luanda, Angola.
On 28 February, Professor Jan Erk, a visiting professor at the Community Law Centre under the SARChi Chair for Multilevel Government, delivered a lecture for the LL.M/Mphil students in Law, State and Multilevel Government. The lecture was titled 'Two Divided Cities: Federalism, Nationalism and Urban Politics in Montreal and Brussels'.
Prof Jaap de Visser, the director of the Community Law Centre and senior fellow of the centre’s Multilevel Government Initiative addressed a group of officials from Kenya on the topic of Integrated Development Planning (IDP). He outlined the background to IDP, the legal framework and also discussed some of the challenges in implementing this progressive and ambitious system.
Dr. Jan Erk, who is currently a visiting research fellow at the Community Law Centre, has just completed teaching a short seminar on post-conflict settlements and federalism to Ethiopian doctoral candidates and lecturers at the Institute of Peace and Security of Addis Ababa University.
Albie Sachs is set to deliver the Community Law Centre’s 9th Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture on 25 March 2014. The Community Law Centre is pleased to announce the 9th Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by former Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs.
Today, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities will commence with public hearings on the Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality bill.
Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur has been appointed associate professor as well as the head of the Children’s Rights Project at the Community Law Centre. Prof Mezmur who published a number of articles on children's rights in Africa and related topics is also research fellow based at the Centre.
Community Law Centre's Parliamentary Programme has delivered a submission to Parliament on women, children and people with disabilities on the women’s empowerment and gender equality bill.
The Community Law Centre has featured in two separate panel discussions during the on- going 17th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA). The Conference with the theme Now More than Ever: Targeting Zero, holds from 7-11 December 2013 at the Convention Centre, Cape Town.
The staff of the Community Law Centre mourns the loss of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and extends its deepest sympathies to his wife and his family.