South Africa – like many other countries on the African continent – is grappling with the deepening of its hard-won democracy. At the same time many other African countries are also taking great strides in moving from authoritarianism towards democratic statehood.

L’Afrique du Sud -comme beaucoup d’autres pays sur le continent africainlutte avec sa démocratie durement acquise et qui s’intensifie. En même temps, plusieurs autres pays africains font de grands progrès en en allant de l’autoritarisme vers l’état démocratique.

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.

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.

Melvin Mbao and G.G Komboni criticise the legal regime and institutional arrangements designed to promote good government and to combat corruption and maladministration in Botswana, a country widely acclaimed as Africa’s success story. Using internationally accepted benchmarks on good governance and combating corruption, the article seeks to critically evaluate Botswana’s record on these issues. It concludes that although Botswana has a relatively good record on good governance and in controlling the scourge of corruption, these achievements should not lull the country into complacency.

Marius Smit deals with bureaucracy and the role of school governing bodies. Following the establishment of a constitutional democracy South African society has been undergoing a fundamental transformation.

Adriette Dekker argues that the protection provided by social security is necessary not only to achieve social justice but is also an indispensable tool in the fight against poverty. Formal government-regulated social security in South Africa comprises both social insurance and social assistance.

Nathiera Abdullah assesses the possibility of introducing Shariah (i.e. Islamic Canon Law) compliant financing and banking products as possible vehicles of Islamic Economic Empowerment (IEE) for the purpose of promoting broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). Special attention is given to the contextual implementation of a three-tiered IEE paradigm or structure (viz. zakah, sadaqah and infaq fi sabil Allah) which could function as an innovative strategy, aimed at promoting the circulation of wealth and growth of potential income among a broader entrepreneurial constituency and the population at large.