Activists and scholars this week reminded the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP), during a roundtable discussion on oversight and public participation, that they will turn up the heat so that legislatures can strengthen its oversight muscle. Too often it is National Parliament that comes under scrutiny whilst provincial legislatures escape the public eye.
Thursday, 31 October 2019, Cape Town - The Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) is concerned that the 2019 MTBPS proposes a deepening of austerity (cutting expenditure to address debt) in the country.
The Dullah Omar Institute held an in-house seminar on 'Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay' on Tuesday 29 October 2019. It was facilitated by Prof Jaap de Visser.
Dullah Omar Institute’s doctoral researcher, Thandeka Khoza coached UWC Moot Court team which recently won the esteemed Annual Child Law Moot Competition. The UWC Moot Team was made up of Amanda Mpedi and Kirsten Lemaine Davids, both in their third year of the LLB programme. This victory was the first in history for the UWC team.
Prof Benyam Dawit Mezmur, head of the Children's Rights Project was part of a panel discussion looking at 30 years after the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The Socioeconomic Rights Project and its partners participated in the UN Summit on Sustainable Development that took place in New York from 22-25 September in New York. This Summit was a gathering of Heads of State to deliberate on and assess the commitments made under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the Summit, SERP participated in some side events organised by civil society groups.
Dr Robert Nanima presented a paper on 'The Situation of Children affected by armed conflict in Africa: A review of progress made from the Graca Machel Report 1996 to date' at the Knowledge Exchange organised by Save the Children in Uganda.
On 23 September 2019, Prof Benyam Mezmur, head of the Children's Rights Project, was part of the panel at a side event of the 24th Human Rights Council Session in Geneva. The event was to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and it was organised by the African Union Ambassadors to Geneva.
The Children’s Rights Project of the Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) at the University of the Western Cape welcomes the Constitutional Court of South Africa’s declaration that the common law defence of reasonable and moderate parental chastisement is unconstitutional. The DOI was one of the three partners that was granted permission to submit an amicus brief to the Constitutional Court.
Dr. Usang Maria Assim and Dr. Robert Nanima researchers with the Children’s Rights Project this week participated in a 3-day child rights strategic litigation training and case-identification workshop from 10 - 12 September 2019 in Mombasa, Kenya. The workshop organised by IHRDA and East Africa Child Rights Network falls within the framework of the African Children’s Charter Project (Phase II) coordinated by Plan International.
Both Ethiopia and South Africa place state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the centre of their state-led development effort. In both countries, there is a strong and dominant ruling party/alliance, whose influence stretches into virtually all sectors of society. However, Ethiopia has not experienced large scale corruption in its SOEs. In fact, its SOEs seem to be doing well with Ethiopian Airlines as a prominent and shining example.
On 13 August 2019, Prof Ebenezer Durojaye of the Socioeconomic Rights Project delivered a guest lecture at the Faculty of Law and Management, University of Mauritius. His presentation focused on ‘The relevance of a rights-based approach to non-communicable diseases in Africa’.
The Dullah Omar Institute today submitted a petition to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) on the state of food insecurity in South African tertiary institutions. This petition was prompted by the recognition of an urgent need for intervention in South African tertiary institutions, related to food and nutrition (in) security.
On the 13th July 2019, Laws.Africa together with OpenUp and two students sourced from the Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) successfully hosted a one-day youth orientated By-laws Workshop to the Cape Agulhas Youth Council in Bredasdorp. In attendance were, among others, officials from the Cape Agulhas municipality including the Deputy Mayor.
In 2015, member states committed to delivering access to justice for all by 2030. But this year a report by the Pathfinders Task Force on Justice found that 5.1 billion people still do not have access to justice. How is this gap going to be bridged?
Cape Town, 11 July 2019 - The highly centralised power to appoint boards of South Africa’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) needs to be dispersed. This is one of the recommendations made in a recent submission by the Dullah Omar Institute (DOI) to the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture.
South Africans were reminded on Saturday not to think that the state of the ANC is the measure of where we are as a people. Struggle activist and theologian Dr Allan Boesak gave a memorial lecture at the District Six Museum in celebration of late minister of justice Dullah Omar and late Judge Essa Moosa’s contribution to the law in South Africa.
Recent media reports highlighting the issuing of fines to homeless people based on laws or city by-laws which prohibits people from sleeping in any undesignated area or obstructing sidewalks sparked much outrage, with officials presenting arguments woefully justifying the existence and enforcement of these provisions with generalised statements.
All the parliament committee meetings must be conducted in an open and accessible manner and should be broadcast for the public on a platform such as YouTube and national television stations in order to ensure accessibility by all members of the public.
19 June 2019 - President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his first State of the Nation address of the 6th Parliament on Thursday under the theme “Following up on our Commitments: Making Your Future Work Better”.
The Dullah Omar Institute with the support of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa hosted a seminar aimed at interrogating SOE Board appointments at PRASA, SABC and Eskom on 11 June 2019.
Dr Tinashe Chigwata a senior researcher and Dr Michelle Maziwisa a postdoctoral research fellow at the Dullah Omar Institute have started their secondments in the European Union Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) programme. The programme promotes cross-border and cross-sector collaboration through sharing knowledge and ideas from research to market and vice versa within Europe and beyond.
We the undersigned civil society organisations are deeply disturbed by the recent threats and intimidation directed by the EFF, South Africa’s third largest political party, against civil society groups partners such as the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (AKF), a fellow civil society organisation. In a similar vein the EFF party leadership has attacked journalists writing about financial scandals which implicate the EFF leadership instead of focusing on the substance of investigations by the journalists.
Remand detention is disproportionate and increasing in the Western Cape, such that over five years, 10 percent of adult men can be expected to be remanded. The extent of remand detention in the Western Cape is likely to have a severe financial impact on especially poorer communities.
The Institute is proud to announce that Prof Dee Smythe, Professor of Public Law the University of Cape Town, is joining its Advisory Board.
How do top three parties deal with womxn? Not just on GBV and representation - On all areas of life? GBV is an issue of the day – what about land and housing and jobs?
2 May 2019 - New research based on a feminist analysis of party manifestos show none of the top three political parties’ manifestos will make a real difference in the lived realities of womxn.
Parliament Watch, today released a Scorecard reflecting selected portfolio committees in the National Assembly’s poor to average performance. The Scorecard based on committee performance in 2018 also includes selected committees in the Eastern Cape Legislature. It focused on the Portfolio Committees on Social Development, Communications, and Police and how they handled three politically hot issues. These were the social grants crisis in the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), the SABC-crisis and the issues discriminatory police resource allocation.
