The public protector’s proposal to change the mandate of South Africa’s Reserve Bank goes well beyond changing individual rules to overturning their very foundation, anchored in the Constitution.
Articles on Constitutionalism
Displaying 41 - 49 of 49 articles
The internal processes of South Africa’s ruling ANC for electing the president is distorted by money, patronage, factionalism and vote-rigging. It negates the democratic legitimacy the party claims.
President Jacob Zuma’s grounds for appeal are surreal. He invokes the meaning of a rule set by the apartheid context he ferociously fought against, to justify his executive action in a democracy.
The clash over South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill is essentially about custom and constitutionalism. The government is often seen as pandering to traditional leaders’ whims.
Attempts to deepen democracy in Africa by limiting presidential terms to two have not entirely quashed a culture of entitlement to rule. Glimpses of it persist, much against citizens’ wishes.
Far from the limelight, South Africa’s public protector has been instrumental in assisting individuals who grapple with unfair treatment from government departments and other public institutions.
The proposed new constitution would allow Alassane Ouattara to remain as president. Opposition parties see this move as a constitutional “coup” that will also protect his allies.
Of many ways to make fundamental decisions in a constitutional democracy, Colombia and Great Britain chose the riskiest of all options: the plebiscite.
If anarchists reject private property and the state, they need to devise alternative, radical practices of power-sharing. Republican constitutionalism offers one way to think about this.
Top contributors
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Head of Department, Public and Environmental Law Department, University of Limpopo
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Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Associate Researcher, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute
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Emeritus Associate Professor in Public Law, UCT. Visiting Adjunct Professor, WITS School of Governance; Director, Africa Programme, University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, University of Cambridge
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Professor, Weber State University
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Associate Professor in Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor Emeritus of Public Law, University of Cape Town
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Professor of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
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Extraordinary Lecturer, University of Pretoria
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Claude Leon Foundation Chair in Constitutional Governance, University of Cape Town
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PhD Candidate, University of Cape Town
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SA UK Bilateral Research Professor in Political Theory, Wits and Cambridge, University of the Witwatersrand
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Politics lecturer, Rhodes University
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Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Exeter; Independent Social Research Foundation
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Director of the Leaders of Africa Institute and Research Affiliate with Davidson College, Davidson College