WIReDSpace

Welcome to WIReDSpace(Wits Institutional Repository on DSpace)

For queries relating to content and technical issues, please contact IR specialists via this email address : openscholarship.library@wits.ac.za, Tel: 011 717 4652 or 011 717 1954

 

Communities in WIReDSpace

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 18

Recent Submissions

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The development of e-technology at the pleading And pre-trial stage of civil procedure
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ferreira, Marius Salomon
South Africa has been lodged into embracing the e-platforms since the advent of the lockdown restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. CaseLines, and later-on Court Online, have been introduced to the South African judicial adversarial system in the High Court Divisions in Gauteng. Since its inception, the Caselines and Court Online electronic platforms (e-platforms) have undergone numerous amendments to comply with traditional civil procedure. At the same time, the e-platforms are being used to change the civil procedure at the Gauteng Divisions. The purpose of this report is to critically analyse the CaseLines and Court Online e-platforms and the online civil procedure, through the applicable directives in place, as well as the current Rules of Court, in order to determine its effectiveness in South African civil procedure as well as its fairness in the current South African dispensation. The procedure at the High Court Gauteng Divisions is further compared to the procedure at the Labour Court and Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), who have both utilised the use of certain online procedures long before the introduction CaseLines and Court Online. The use of evidence on an online e-platform is critically discussed to determine whether it is in line with the current laws involving the admission of evidence in the South African judiciary. The online judicial system in South Africa is critically compared to the current online procedures in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom to determine whether any lessons can be taken from the foreign judiciaries in terms of online civil procedure. Lastly, the report will provide concluding remarks and recommendations to consider for the South African e-platform and online civil procedure.
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Contractual liability of state-owned enterprises in international business transactions: a South African legal perspective
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Danha, Mutsa Dadiso
This research report examines the legal regime that governs South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as they participate in transnational commercial transactions (transactions involving multinational corporations foreign to South Africa). It primarily seeks to lay out the optimal path through which South African law would allow for the State to be held contractually liable for the SOE's failure to perform its international contractual obligations. Following this will be a comparative analysis between the principles of South African law and those of International Business Transactions Law regarding the same. The South African legal framework that this paper examines comprises of the South African Company Law regime, the South African law of contract, and the South African administrative law regime. The legal framework to which this will be compared is International Business Transactions Law, which does not have such clearly delineated subcategories. Issues which fall outside of the scope of this paper are the appropriate forum of the matter, the choice of law which applies to the contract, public international trade law, and the regulations of the World Trade Organization
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A feminist ontology to data commercialisation: Evaluating women's access to information and privacy within the medico-legal sphere in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Neto, Ângela Pacheco; Swemmer, Sheena
With the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, rapid exchanges of data have intensified. Technologies like biometric monitoring, female-oriented technologies, and artificial intelligence bring with them a host of legal issues related to consent, access, privacy, and liability. Vulnerable populations or groups must be given particular attention as standard data practices serve to reinforce existing inequalities. For this reason, female-directed and female- generated health data is specifically considered herein. By employing a data feminism lens, it becomes apparent that the current South African regulatory framework has been legislatively misapproached with regards to the medico-legal sphere in South Africa. The methodology herein draws on critical review methods, thematic analysis, and legal discourse analysis, ultimately utilising the general principles of research inherent in the socio-legal sciences. A responsive and flexible health data law that incorporates intersectional narratives is advanced. This holistic response must account for the two-faced coin of female access to information and privacy in order to address historical structures of power inequity
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“What are the preferential trade implications for South Africa’s change in status from a developing country to a developed country in US law?”
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Chand, Farzaana
This paper addresses the question: what are the preferential trade implications for South Africa’s change in status from a developing country to a developed country in US law? To answer this question, this paper considers international agreements and US legislation. This essay examines the implications of being a developed country by considering the background of developing and developed countries, and the difference in advantages of these countries in trade treaty negotiations. To address international trade concerns, the GATT was established. This essay briefly considers the GATT as the non-discrimination principle is currently incorporated in the WTO. This essay addresses the non-discrimination principle, by considering the Most Favoured Nation principle and its exception – the Enabling Clause. Thereafter, this essay examines the Trade Act as US legislation that incorporates special and differential treatment provisions. This essay discusses the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) as a condition under the Enabling Clause, that allows for preferential treatment of developing countries. Furthermore, this essay discusses the AGOA as it is beneficial to South Africa since South African products – such as textiles and apparel – benefit the most from it. This essay argues that South Africa’s agricultural sector will be impacted, if South Africa’s designation changes. This essay considers the IIPA’s petition to place South Africa’s GSP eligibility under review, and additionally it examines the standard of implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. This essay submits that the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement may be turned to, which may divert developing countries' reliance on preferential schemes, to each other
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The sub judice rule in South Africa: a tool for justice or a shield for the powerful?
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Phahle, Sello Ivan; Albertyn, Cathi
This research report delves into the sub judice rule in the South African context and its impacts on the constitutional right of freedom of expression. The report analyses how elected officials wield the sub judice rule as a protective barrier to responding to questions that relate to matters before a competent court involving them, which tends to happen in cases where there is no actual risk of prejudicing the proper administration of justice by providing answers to the questions posed. This report argues that the misapplication of the sub judice rule undermines the fundamental principles of accountability, transparency, and openness, which are the cornerstones of our democracy, and also infringes the mandate of the media to communicate information to the public and the public’s right to access and consume such information. It further contends that the continued abuse and misuse of the rule calls for its reform through legislative measures. Such legislation must delineate circumstances in which the rule may be rightfully summoned, maintain the integrity of the rule and ward off its misuse to conceal information without a valid cause