Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (Research Outputs)

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Cartoon controversies: law student views about free speech and Zapiro’s satirisation of South Africa’s president
(Taylor & Francis, 2017-05-22) Bronstein, V.; Glaser, D.; Werbeloff, M.
Although the Constitutional Court has been a protector of freedom of expression, major controversies about speech illustrate deep divisions among South Africans. This article explores attitudes of law students at the University of the Witwatersrand to freedom of expression. The authors take the realist view that these students are future legal interpreters of the Constitution and their attitudes may well have an impact on future jurisprudence. They follow-up previous research which measured attitudes to political freedom of expression by asking students about their responses to a sample of Zapiro cartoons depicting President Zuma. After exploring the role of cartoons in a democracy, the article looks at new data obtained by questioning final year students about the same cartoons four years after the initial study. The new data substantially confirms earlier results which indicate that Wits students would not robustly support Zapiro’s right to create his more controversial caricatures. This result reinforces the view that supporters of freedom of expression in South Africa may not be able to call upon consistent or robust elite and popular support in resisting banning or criminalisation of speech.
Catalytic power of a pandemic: on enacting agency in professional higher education spaces through communities of practice
(HELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa), 2022) De Klerk, Danie
This chapter critically interrogates the agential metamorphosis the author experienced over an 18-month period during the Covid-19 pandemic, by means of numerous diverse communities of practice (CoPs). As a mid-career academic occupying a middle-management leadership position in a faculty, at a large, research-intensive public university in South Africa, the author first outlines the numerous professional tensions that characterise the dual roles he holds in the faculty. Underpinned by Social Realist principles and Archer’s (1995, 2000, 2005) notions about morphogenesis, the chapter explores the temporal interplay between structures (in the form of CoPs) and agency (in the form of the author’s agential metamorphosis). The chapter postulates that the Covid-19 pandemic served as a catalyst in this interplay, according the author unique opportunities to become part of numerous diverse CoPs that evolved organically during this time. Synergistic with this evolution, was that of the author’s awareness of his own agential potential and the intentionality with which he came to enact agency in the professional spaces he occupies. By linking the CoPs to four professional meta-identities, the chapter allows for critical reflections on how each CoP contributed in unique but interconnected ways to the author’s agential metamorphosis, catalysed by the pandemic. The chapter concludes by making recommendations on how higher education stakeholders can use CoPs and critical reflection about agential potential as ways of eliciting and enacting agency in their own professional spaces.
Developing the common law of breach of promise and universal partnerships: rights to property sharing for all cohabitants
(Juta Law, 2015) Bonthuys, Elsje
The Constitutional Court's 2005 judgment in Volks NO v Robinson' has been widely regarded as a setback for the extension of legal rights to opposite-sex cohabitants. The majority of the court held that an unmarried opposite-sex cohabitant is not a spouse under the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act 27 of 1990.2 According to Smith, this judgment 'effectively put paid to the judicial extension of matrimonial law to unmarried opposite-sex cohabiting life partners'
A duty of support for all South African unmarried intimate partners Part I: the limits of the cohabitation and marriage based models
(North-West University, 2018-10-19) Bonthuys, Elsje
The democratic Constitutional dispensation has led to the gradual extension of spousal duties of support to unmarried couples who hitherto could not legally claim support from their partners or from third parties who had unlawfully caused the death of their partners. The new recipients of rights to support can be divided into three groups: wives in Muslim religious marriages, partners in same-sex intimate relationships and unmarried opposite sex cohabitants whose relationships closely resemble civil marriage in both form and function. However, certain distinctive features of customary marriage, the continuing consequences of apartheid policies for African families and certain distinctive patrilineal features of traditional African families have largely excluded African women – who constitute the largest and most economically vulnerable group of women – from the benefits of these developments. Part one of this two-part article analyses the trajectory of the developing right to support intimate partnerships which appear to be based either on marriage (in the case of Muslim marriages) or relationships similar to marriage, including monogamy and permanent co-residence in the case of same-sex and opposite sex partners. This leaves no room to extend rights to unmarried intimate partners whose relationships do not fit the template of civil marriage and, in particular, excludes many disadvantaged African women from obtaining legal rights to support from their relationships.
Equality beyond dignity: multi-dimensional equality and Justice Langa’s judgments
(Juta and Co, 2015) Albertyn, Catherine; Fredman, Sandra
The tendency for South African equality jurisprudence to reduce equality to a single value, namely dignity, has been much debated, especially around the relationship of dignity to disadvantage. In this article we argue for a multidimensional idea of equality that moves beyond a dignity/disadvantage paradigm to enable a fuller exploration of the complex harms and injuries that underlie equality claims, and greater elucidation of the multiple principles and purposes of equality. In particular, we argue that substantive equality should be understood in terms of a four-dimensional framework, which aims at addressing stigma, stereotyping, prejudice and violence; redressing socio-economic disadvantage; facilitating participation; and valuing and accommodating difference through structural change. We suggest that this enables a better exploration of the different principles that underlie equality and an open discussion of complementarities and tensions between them. We explore the benefits of this approach through an evaluation of three equality cases in which Justice Langa delivered the leading judgments. Although we do not claim that he fully adopted such an approach, we engage Justice Langa’s philosophy on equality as it emerges from these judgments, and evaluate the extent to which we can develop from this a more fully-fledged understanding of equality and its underlying values in the South African Constitution.
Guidelines for the approval of surrogate motherhood agreements: Ex Parte WH
(Juta Law, 2013) Elsje, Bonthuys; Neil, Broeders
In 2011 the North and South Gauteng High Courts were approached to confirm surrogate motherhood agreements in accordance with the provisions of chapter 19 of the Children's Act 38 of 2005. The judgments were reported as In Re-Confirmation of Three Surrogate motherhood Agreements 2011 (6) SA22 (GSJ) and Ex parte 14FI2011 (6) SA514 (GNP). This note concerns the latter judgment.
Immigration Internal Migration and Crime in South Africa A multilevel model analysis
(Wiley Online Library, 2019-09) Kollamparambil, U
A review of South African literature on crime confirms the lack of a study that considers the impact of migration on the crime rate in the country. The high levels of crime in South Africa aside, additional motivation behind the study has been the increasing rhetoric in media and by politicians insinuating the prominent role of foreign immigrants in the high crime levels of the country. While this is the first attempt to study this relationship in the South African context, it also stands apart from existing studies undertaken in the developed countries by accounting for both internal migrants as well as foreign immigrants. Further, the study claims the use of multi-level regression estimations as an improvement from the existing studies on the issue by accounting for variance clustering across different spatial levels. In all the estimated models, internal migrant ratio came out as being positively and significantly related to crime rates across five different crime categories, with the sole exception of sexual crime rate. There was no evidence of foreign immigrant ratio impacting on crime rate in any of the crimes analysed except crime relating to property. Further, income inequality and sex ratio figure as determining factors across most types of crime in South Africa. © The Authors 2018. Development Policy Review © 2018 Overseas Development Institute
Narrowing the geographical divide: a critical reflection of an accordance of the Covid-19 pandemic for collaborative professional learning and development
(HELTASA (Higher Education Learning & Teaching Association of Southern Africa), 2022) Fontaine-Rainen, Danny; De Klerk, Danie; Frade, Nelia; Ramrung, Arthi
Globally, Covid-19 has disrupted practices within higher education forcing us to relook at how we engage, what we do and how we do things. The pandemic has changed how we teach and how our students learn. It has also changed the way we, as professionals working in higher education, do our work including how we interact with each other. While much has been taken away from our lived experiences and daily realities because of the need to live carefully and safely for ourselves and others, there are some very real, innovative, and genuine accordances that Covid-19 has promoted that provide current realities and future possibilities that are quite different from our past experiences. In this critical reflection we explore how we – four individuals from different universities across South Africa working together on the Student Learning Scholarly Project (SLSP) of the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) – are communicating, collaborating, and learning in ways where, among other things, geography no longer matters. In spite of our physical separation, we are able to work together in ways that create and maintain momentum, generate a plethora of new ideas for consideration and action, and in many ways, produce more materials and products to enhance the student experience of higher education in South Africa. We will consider and reflect on what this different way of working means to us, both individually and collectively and what it means for higher education for the now and for the future.
Reflections from implementing a faculty strategy for academic professional learning during a global pandemic
(HELTASA (Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa), 2022) Krull, Greig; De Klerk, Danie; MacAlister, Fiona
Joining a new institution is challenging; doing so eight weeks before the advent of a pandemic was extremely challenging. Two new online learning specialists, together with the support of their manager, in a faculty’s Teaching and Learning Centre at a South African university, reflect upon personal experiences that highlight the challenges and accordance of supporting professional learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The two online learning specialists had to establish personal relationships with each other, their manager and the broader institutional community, in addition to building networks with the academics they needed to support. The faculty team had to work with the central support unit, as well as with faculty teams in other faculties to support academics in their transition to remote teaching and learning. Adopting an ethic of care philosophy, the team conceptualised and implemented various professional learning interventions for academics, while they themselves grew accustomed to the faculty and institution. In a short space of time, many academics in the faculty and institution looked at the team for advice, guidance and reassurance. Fortuitously, the period enabled the team to form/join support networks and communities of practice, both within the faculty and the institution. These experiences laid the foundation for a faculty support strategy for the future, and the design of short courses to further support the professional learning of academics and their capacity to develop and implement pedagogically sound blended and online offerings.
Tax the super-rich for the right to the city
(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2024-10-07) Veloso, Sérgio
The inequality in Brazilian cities is evident: few live in luxury while the majority face precarious conditions. High-end apartments drive up rents, forcing out long-time residents. This scenario reflects an injustice that needs to be addressed. The richest 1% in Brazil owns almost half of the wealth, while millions survive with difficulty. This concentration worsens social exclusion in cities. During the recent G20 Finance Ministers meeting, Brazil proposed a 2% tax on the super-rich, which could generate 250 billion dollars per year. These resources could improve infrastructure, housing and community services. This engagement paper contributes to the ongoing discourse around tax reform in Brazil and unpacks Brazil's regressive system, and outlines how taxing the wealthy can contribute to reclaiming cities and restoring justice.
Taxar os super-ricos pelo direito à cidade!
(Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, 2024-10-02) Veloso, Sérgio
A desigualdade nas cidades brasileiras é evidente: poucos vivem em luxo enquanto a maioria enfrenta a precariedade. Apartamentos de alto padrão elevam os aluguéis, expulsando moradores antigos. Esse cenário reflete uma injustiça que precisa ser combatida. O 1% mais rico no Brasil detém quase metade da riqueza, enquanto milhões sobrevivem com dificuldade. Essa concentração agrava a exclusão social nas cidades. Durante a recente reunião de Ministros de Finanças do G20, o Brasil propôs uma taxa de 2% sobre os super-ricos, que poderia gerar 250 bilhões de dólares por ano. Esses recursos poderiam melhorar infraestrutura, moradias e serviços comunitários.
The Effects of Public Investment in the Green and Care Economies and Public Infrastructure in South Africa
(2024) Onaran, Ozlem; Oyvat, Cem
This paper argues that a comprehensive mix of policy tools is essential to catalyse the urgent public investment required to address South Africa's growth, inequality, care, and climate change crises. According to the National Treasury, from 2010 to 2019, South Africa's growth averaged only 1.75% annually, a figure further reduced when factoring in the COVID-19-impacted years of 2020 and 2021. Fiscal policy involves decisions regarding government spending levels, tax revenue generation, and borrowing. Since 2013, a fiscal consolidation strategy has been in place to curb public spending growth, resulting in decreased expenditures on public services due to rising debt service costs. This paper argues that increasing public spending on the care economy, green economy, and public infrastructure would boost GDP and employment, thereby altering public debt/GDP ratios. It advocates expansionary fiscal policies, clear development targets, and coordinated fiscal, monetary, industrial, labour, and social policies.
What’s the deal? women’s evidence and gendered negotiations
(Springer, 2018-11) Bonthuys, Elsje
South African law has traditionally denied property sharing rights to people in nonmarital intimate partnerships, but a series of new cases has created the possibility of enforcing universal partnership contracts to claim a share in partnership property.However, evidential biases within these progressive cases reflect a historical disdain for women’s contributions to relationships and a widespread reluctance to believe women’s testimony about the existence of agreements to share. These biases bear strong resemblances to the gender stereotypes which have been the subject of feminist critique in rape law. Central to both rape and universal partnerships is the issue of consent or agreement between men and women. This, in turn, depends on social beliefs about male and female entitlements in the realms of sex and intimate relationships. The paper highlights the commonalities and parallels between the legal treatment of women’s evidence about the existence of contracts on the one hand, and the prejudice faced by complainants in rape cases.

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Browsing Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (Research Outputs) by SDG "SDG-10: Reduced inequalities"

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