Law, Democracy & Development

Written by Le Roux, Rochelle,

The article analyses two recent judgments dealing with the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. In these cases (heard in the Cape HIgh Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal) a woman successfully sued her employer for not taking adequate action to prevent sexual harassment from taking place.

Written by Redpath, Jean,

Jean Redpath, who has systematically visited police stations and interviewed police officers, classifies crime as economic and violent crime. Most economic crime, in her view, is opportunistic.

Written by Goldberg, Melvin,

In "Small enterprises, the Labour Relations Act and collective bargaining in South Africa" Melvin Goldberg considers the way in which the LRA deals with small enterprise. Questioning the widely-held beJief that the small business sector is the engine of employment growth, he argues that this has more validity in the informal sector than in the formal sector.

Written by Smit, Nicola and Mpedi, George,

Written by Myburgh, Piet, Nicola Smit and Daleen van der Nest,

The article gives an overview of current occupational injury insurance and highlights some of the issues related to its (limited) scope of application. It also examines the interaction between the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act and the Road Accidents Fund (RAF) Act in the context of commuter injuries.

Written by Dekker, Adriette, Linda Jansen van Rensburg, Rene Liffman, Mark Thompson and Adriaan van der Walt,

The article presents an overview of the concept of social security, dealing with the origins of the concept as well as its modern form and stressing the importance of the concept of solidarity for a successful and inclusive social security system. It further advocates a functional definition of social security, moving away from the notion of social security merely as measures of a public nature to an approach inclusive of all instruments able to guarantee social security that are available to society.

Written by Steytler, Nico,

Nico Steytler outlines the obligations resting on local government to give effect to socio-economic rights, focusing in particular on the legislative framework in terms of which privatisation of municipal services may occur. Concerns have been raised about the ability of privatised services to be provided on an equitable and affordable basis.

Written by Lanfranchi, Marie-Pierre,

Do international trade rules applicable between states take into consideration the protection of socio-economic rights? Marie-Pierre Lanfranchi notes that WTO law does not take into consideration processes and methods of production, includes no social clause and does not cover social dumping. In consequence, it appears that the only way to promote socio-economic rights through trade measures would be to promote a different type of interpretation of WTO agreements.

Written by Theron, Jan,

Written by Durojaye, Ebenezer and Mirugi-Mukundi, Gladys,

This paper examines the decision of the Kenyan High Court in P.A.O and others v Attorney General and another in relation to the nature of states’ obligations to ensure access to medicines for their people.

Written by Muntingh, Lukas,

In a survey of quantitative data, Lukas Muntingh illustrates that Southern Africa has relatively high imprisonment rates. Further, the South African figures are skewed, showing that almost half of the prison population range from 18 to and 25 years of age.

Written by Berger, Jonathan,

Jonathan Berger deals with the issue of the transmission of HIV from mother to child, which is the primary source of infection in young children. The author accepts that preventative interventions substantially reduce mother to child transmission (MTCT) but, without state intervention, access to programmes to prevent MTCT remains an impossibility for most pregnant women in South Africa.

Written by Chenwi, Lilian,

Lilian Chenwi deals with the need for an approach to housing that takes special needs into account. Millions of people in South Africa do not have access to adequate housing, among them many individuals and households with special needs.

Written by Pillay, Karrisha,

Testing for HIV/AIDS has long been a contentious issue. Karrisha PiIlay examines it in the context of the right of access to health care services embodied in s27 of the Constitution.

Written by Aniekwu, Nkolika Ijeoma,

Aniekwu Nkolika Ijeoma notes that, in July 2003, the African Union adopted a landmark treaty, the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which significantly advances human rights protections to better reflect and incorporate women’s experiences. It presents a tremendous opportunity for women’s rights advocates in Africa, being the first regional human rights treaty to explicitly articulate women’s right to abortion in specified circumstances.

Written by Muntingh, Lukas,

Lukas Muntingh reveals that South Africa ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) in 1998 and that its Initial Report, which was due a year later, was only submitted in 2005 and assessed by the UN Committee against Torture in November 2006.

Written by Dupper, Ockie, Kitty Malherbe, Barry Shipman and Ethel Bolani,

The article gIves an overview of current South African law on family and maternity benefits and highlights a number of shortcomings, notably the exclusion of certain categories of women from maternity benefits. The discussion of family benefits deviates from the usual discourse in that it focuses not only on assistance to families in caring for their children but also on family care for the elderly.

Written by Bond, Patrick and Jackie Dugard,

Patrick Bond and Jackie Dugard consider South Africa’s retail water policy and delivery system through the dual lens of the proceedings in Mazibuko & Others v City of Johannesburg & Others , heard in the Johannesburg High Court from 3-5 December 2007, and a recent hydropolitical analysis by the country’s leading water authority, Mike Muller.

Written by Malherbe, Kitty,

Investigating social security coverage in the SADC region, Kitty Malherbe finds that national systems have historically been underdeveloped and are extremely diverse. SADC measures to coordinate social security for migrants are limited.

Written by Mahao, Nqosa L,

Nqosa L Mahao argues that the concept of the constitutional state has its genesis in the evolution of constitutionalism in Europe. Its basic elements – the rule of law, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary – were born of a specific agenda of restraining the holders of political power and building a state based on liberal foundations that would play only a limited role in social affairs. During the 20^th century this ideology was substantially reversed with the development of the notion of a broad social writ enabling the state to harmonise formal and substantive equality.