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Annual Report 1999
Fourth Annual Report December 1998 - December 1999 South African Human Rights Commission 4th Annual Report December 1998 December 1999 Table of contents Page Preface ………………………………………………………………………………… v Executive Summary ………………………………………………………………… vii 1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………….. 1-8 Overview of 1999 ……………………………………………………… 1 The human rights environment ………………………………………. 2 Relations with government …………………………………………… 4 Relationship with Parliament ………………………………………..…. 5 International relations …………………………………………………... 5 Annual Planning Meeting ………………………………………………. 7 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………. 8 2. Major Projects of 1999 …………………………………………………… 9-16 Equality …………………………………………………………..……… 9 Racism and Racial Discrimination ……………………………….. 9 Inquiry into Racism in the Media …………………………………. 10 Other equality activities ……………………………………………. 11 Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign……….………………………. 12 Human rights in the criminal justice system ………………………….. 13 Interventions ………………………………………………….…… 14 HIV/AIDS Seminar ……………………………………….…………….… 15 The rights of older persons ………………………………………….…. 16 3. Finance ………………………………………………………………………..17-22 Balance Sheet March 1999 …………………………………….………. 18 Income Statement March 1999 ………………………………………… 19 Budget 1999/2000 ……………………………………………………….. 20 Report of the Auditor-General ………………………………………….. 21 4. Administration …..………………………………………….…….………… 23-27 Office Developments ………………………………………………….. 23 New provincial offices …………………………………………… 23 Staffing …………………………………………………………… . 23 Information technology advancements ………………………… -
The Referendum in FW De Klerk's War of Manoeuvre
The referendum in F.W. de Klerk’s war of manoeuvre: An historical institutionalist account of the 1992 referendum. Gary Sussman. London School of Economics and Political Science. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Government and International History, 2003 UMI Number: U615725 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615725 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 T h e s e s . F 35 SS . Library British Library of Political and Economic Science Abstract: This study presents an original effort to explain referendum use through political science institutionalism and contributes to both the comparative referendum and institutionalist literatures, and to the political history of South Africa. Its source materials are numerous archival collections, newspapers and over 40 personal interviews. This study addresses two questions relating to F.W. de Klerk's use of the referendum mechanism in 1992. The first is why he used the mechanism, highlighting its role in the context of the early stages of his quest for a managed transition. -
EB145 Opt.Pdf
E EPISCOPAL CHURCHPEOPLE for a FREE SOUTHERN AFRICA 339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y. 10012·2725 C (212) 4n-0066 FAX: (212) 979-1013 S A #145 21 february 1994 _SU_N_D_AY-.::..:20--:FEB:.=:..:;R..:..:U..:..:AR:..:.Y:.....:..:.1994::...::.-_---.". ----'-__THE OBSERVER_ Ten weeks before South Africa's elections, a race war looks increasingly likely, reports Phillip van Niekerk in Johannesburg TOKYO SEXWALE, the Afri In S'tanderton, in the Eastern candidate for the premiership of At the meeting in the Pretoria Many leading Inkatha mem can National Congress candidate Transvaal, the white town coun Natal. There is little doubt that showgrounds three weeks ago, bers have publicly and privately for the office of premier in the cillast Wednesday declared itself Natal will fall to the ANC on 27 when General Constand Viljoen, expressed their dissatisfaction at Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Veree part of an independent Boer April, which explains Buthelezi's head ofthe Afrikaner Volksfront, Inkatha's refusal to participate in niging province, returned shaken state, almost provoking a racial determination to wriggle out of was shouted down while advo the election, and could break from a tour of the civil war in conflagration which, for all the having to fight the dection.~ cating the route to a volkstaat not away. Angola last Thursday. 'I have violence of recent years, the At the very least, last week's very different to that announced But the real prize in Natal is seen the furure according to the country not yet experienced. concessions removed any trace of by Mandela last week, the im Goodwill Zwelithini, the Zulu right wing,' he said, vividly de The council's declaration pro a legitimate gripe against the new pression was created that the king and Buthelezi's nephew. -
'Reconciling the Impossible': South Africa's Government of National Unity, 1994-1996 Synopsis
‘RECONCILING THE IMPOSSIBLE’: SOUTH AFRICA’S GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY, 1994-1996 SYNOPSIS Leon Schreiber drafted this case In April 1994, after a decades-long struggle for democracy and study based on interviews conducted more than three years of arduous peace negotiations, Nelson in Cape Town and Johannesburg, Mandela’s African National Congress formed a power-sharing South Africa, in September and government with its rivals: the National Party and the Inkatha October 2016. Case published Freedom Party. It was vital to overcome lingering distrust December 2016. between the three groups, which had been locked in a violent conflict. Based on the outcome of an election and in This series highlights the governance accordance with an interim constitution adopted the year challenges inherent in power sharing arrangements, profiles adaptations before, political leaders apportioned cabinet posts and that eased these challenges, and appointed ministers from all three parties to the new offers ideas about adaptations. government. They then tried to design practices conducive to governing well, and they introduced innovations that became models for other countries. When policy disputes arose, they set up ad hoc committees to find common ground, or they sought venues outside the cabinet to adjudicate the disagreements. Despite the National Party’s withdrawal from the power-sharing cabinet in mid 1996, South Africa’s Government of National Unity oversaw the creation of a historic new constitution, restructured the country’s legal system and public service, and implemented a raft of social programs aimed at undoing the injustices of apartheid. ISS is a joint program of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice: successfulsocieties.princeton.edu. -
Abstract This Paper Explores the Under-Appreciated Role of Business
Business and the South African Transition Itumeleng Makgetla and Ian Shapiro Draft: February 20, 2016 Abstract This paper explores the under-appreciated role of business in negotiated transitions to democracy. Drawing on our interviews of key South African business leaders and political elites, we show how business played a vital role in enabling politicians to break out of the prisoners’ dilemma in which they had been trapped since the 1960s and move the country toward the democratic transition that took place in 1994. Business leaders were uniquely positioned to play this role, but it was not easy because they were internally divided and deeply implicated in Apartheid’s injustices. We explain how they overcame these challenges, how they facilitated negotiations, and how they helped keep them back on track when the going got rough. We also look at business in other transitional settings, drawing on South Africa’s experience to illuminate why business efforts to play a comparable role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have failed. We end by drawing out the implications of our findings for debates about democratic transitions and the role of business interests in them. Department of Political Science, P.O. Box 208301, New Haven, CT 06520-830. Phone:(203) 432-3415; Fax: (203): 432- 93-83. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] On March 21, 1960, police opened fire on a demonstration against South Africa’s pass laws in Sharpeville, fifty miles south of Johannesburg, killing 69 people. The callousness of the massacre – many victims were shot in the back while fleeing – triggered a major escalation in the conflict between the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party (NP) government. -
Oriental Culture and Human Rights Development
UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CULTURAL 1 DIVERSITY 2 A PERSPECTIVE Leon Wessels The quiet of the grave is not suited for the development of thought. What is true of scholarship in general is also true for the particular branch of scholarship that deals with human rights.3 1. UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS 1.1 WHO PROCLAIMS UNIVERSALITY? HOW IS UNIVERSALITY DETERMINED? This speech is an attempt to offer á perspective, given the particular circumstances4 that moulded my thinking. I will sketch the background and confine myself to the unfolding South African scene. The problem, which I will not try and resolve today, is that the different regions in the world and some commentators, also in South Africa, hold firm views.5 1 This speech was delivered on two occasions; at an International Symposium on “Oriental Culture and Human Rights Development” sponsored by the China Society of Human Rights Studies and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development in Beijing (29- 31 October 2002) and a Colloquium on “Politics, Socio-economic issues and Culture in Constitutional Adjudication” organised by the Faculty of Law of the PU for CHE and sponsored by the Konrad-Adenhauer-Stiftung in Rosebank (16 November 2002). 2 Leon Wessels (B Jur et Com, LLB, LLM, LLD); Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, South African Human Rights Commissioner and Honorary Professor in Public Law at the PU for CHE. 3 Baehr PR “Controversies in the Current Human Rights Debate” Human Rights Review Vol. 2 Issue 1 October-December 2000, 7. 4 I am indebted to the South African constitutional negotiators of the nineties and colleagues at the South African Human Rights Commission (hereinafter the SAHRC) who introduced me to and also enlightened my thinking on this matter. -
A Framework for Constitutional Settlements: an Analysis of Diverging Interpretations of the South African Constitution
A Framework for Constitutional Settlements: An Analysis of Diverging Interpretations of the South African Constitution by Salomé Marjanne Teuteberg Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Professor PVDP du Toit March 2015 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 15 February 2015 Copyright © 2015 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved i Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract South Africa’s transition to democracy has been hailed as exemplary in the field of conflict resolution and constitution-making. The negotiated settlement was expected to serve as a consensual constitutional framework boding well for the newly democratic regime, but by 2014 evidence was accumulating of an emerging dissensus on the South African Constitution. The literature on the South African transition does not anticipate this emerging constitutional dissensus, or address the possibility that the constitution meant different things to different stakeholders. While there was widespread endorsement of the ratification of the constitution, an apparent divergence has emerged about its meaning and what is stands for. Many studies addressed the process of constitutional negotiations and the outcome thereof, but few examine the meaning that the original negotiators invested into this outcome. -
Leon Wessels
1 myrightsyourr.pmd 1 3/22/2007, 7:12 PM 2 myrightsyourr.pmd 2 3/22/2007, 7:12 PM MMY RRIGHTIGHTS!! YYOOURUR RRIGHTIGHTS?? – Let’s talk! LEON WESSELS LAPA Publishers Pretoria www.lapa.co.za 3 myrightsyourr.pmd 3 3/22/2007, 7:12 PM © Copyright 2007 Copyright text: Leon Wessels Copyright publications: LAPA Publishers LAPA Publishers (Pty.) Ltd., 380 Bosman Street, Pretoria Tel.: (012) 401-0700 e-mail: [email protected] www.lapa.co.za Set in 11 on 14 pt. Zapf Humanist Layout and design by Hilda Carter, Setmate HC CC Cover design by Elbie Lerm Illustrations by Frans Esterhuyse Printed and bound by Handisa Media, 39 Blignaut Street, Bloemfontein. First edition 2007 ISBN 978-0-7993-3889-8 Transcription of programmes recorded by RSG and Radio Pulpit with the permission of RSG and Radio Pulpit. © All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher. 4 myrightsyourr.pmd 4 3/22/2007, 7:12 PM Acknowledgements Unwittingly, but in their unique ways, two of my tutors had prepared me for the challenge of tackling this book on ‘MY RIGHTS! Your rights’. Johan van der Vyver, who is so much more than a run-of-the-mill lecturer in law, had been the first person to kindle in me an interest in human rights. In the lectures on Interfaculty Philosophy, Willem de Klerk, a mentor, taught me something about the coherence of apparently contradicting concepts. Marinus Wiechers, a national and international icon in public law and a source of inspiration to many law students, took the trouble to talk to me for many hours over many cups of coffee on how to embark on this challenge and how to hone my thoughts. -
National Identity and Sovereignty: Debates Around the South African Nation-State from 1990 to 2010
Name of Candidate: Abba Omar, Yacoob Student Number: 0501212X Degree: Doctor of Philosophy, University of Witwatersrand September 2017 Title: An examination of the relationship between national identity and sovereignty: debates around the South African nation-state from 1990 to 2010. Supervisor: Prof Ran Greenstein 1 DECLARATION I declare that this Thesis is my own, unaided work. It is being submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other University. _______________________________________ (Signature of candidate) 13 September 2017 in Johannesburg 2 Abstract: The study attempts to examine the relationship between national identity and political sovereignty and their impact on the emergence of nations, with a special focus on debates around the South African nation-state from 1990 to 2004. Located within the postcolonialism approach, the study looks at national identity through the prism of ethnicity, language, religion and race, while sovereignty is considered through its two component parts, the state and citizenry. By examining two postcolonial contexts, the Arab world and India, the study has developed a framework which is applied to the study of the South African state. This framework identifies nationalism as a glue which holds sovereignty and identity together in the nation-state. The two cases reveal that there is always more than one nationalist narrative, often competing against each other. In the case of the Arab world the study looks at the tensions between pan-Arabism, Arab nationalism and Islamism. In the case of India a secular Indian nationalism has had to compete against a Hindu nationalism. -
Findings and Recommendations
Vo l u m e SIX • S e c t i o n FIVE • C h ap t e r ONE Findings and Recommendations THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH THE COMMISSION MADE FINDINGS IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Vo l u m e SIX S e c t i o n FIVE C h ap t e r O N E Legal Framework THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH THE COMMISSION MADE FINDINGS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF CURRENT I N T E R N ATIONAL LAW ■ I N V E S T I G ATING GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLAT I O N S 1. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the Commission) was charged with the task of investigating and documenting gross violations of human rights committed during the period March 1960 to May 1994. In the course of doing so, it was re q u i red to compile as complete a picture as possible of the conflicts of the past. DEFINING GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLAT I O N S 2. The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act No. 34 of 1995, (the Act) defined a gross human rights violation as: the violation of human rights through (a) the killing, abduction, torture or severe i l l - t reatment of any person; or (b) any attempt, conspiracy, incitement, instigation, command or procurement to commit an act re f e r red to in paragraph (a), which emanated from conflicts of the past and which was committed during the period 1 March 1960 to the cut-off date [10 May 1994] within or outside the Republic, and the commission of which was advised, planned, directed, commanded or o r d e red, by any person acting with a political motive;1 3. -
Watching the Watchdog: Security Oversight Law in the New South Africa
Michigan Journal of Race and Law Volume 3 1997 Watching the Watchdog: Security Oversight Law in the New South Africa Christopher A. Ford Governmental Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, National Security Law Commons, and the Rule of Law Commons Recommended Citation Christopher A. Ford, Watching the Watchdog: Security Oversight Law in the New South Africa, 3 MICH. J. RACE & L. 59 (1997). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol3/iss1/3 This Symposium Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Journal of Race and Law by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WATCHING THE WATCHDOG: SECURITY OVERSIGHT LAW IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA ChristopherA. Ford* This Article attempts to assess the experiences of post-apartheidSouth Africa in the realm of national security law by examining key issues from constitutional, statutory, and policy perspectives. It observes that South Africans now have a great "window of opportunity" that allows them to establish the habits and mores necessary to a working security oversight regime, and argues that the way in which South Africa strikes a balance between the requirements of nationalsecurity and the preservation of personal liberties is of enormous importance to the Republic's future. It further contends that South Africa's choices in this arena could have significant implications and/or hold important lessons for other democracies aroundthe world. -
INTRODUCTION an Afrikaner's Long Walk to Reconciliation Leon Wessels
1 INTRODUCTION An Afrikaner’s long walk to reconciliation Leon Wessels has been through changes since he rode behind Verwoerd in 1964, writes Kevin Ritchie A young man sits atop a white horse, looking resolutely into the camera. The caption tells us he’s part of an honour guard during the erstwhile National Party’s 50th anniversary celebrations in de Wildt, a small town in the old western Transvaal, in 1964. The rider is waiting to escort the then prime minister of apartheid South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd. The caption tells us that the rider would ultimately become the first NP cabinet minister to apologise publicly for apartheid to a democratic South Africa. The rider is Leon Wessels, a co-author of South Africa’s much-lauded Constitution and a two-term commissioner at South Africa’s Human Rights Commission. The picture was taken almost 43 years ago by David Goldblatt, today an internationally acclaimed photographer, then a Jewish South African shopkeeper from a mining village west of Johannesburg with what would become a burning passion for documentary photography. The image, one of 100 photographs of a cross section of Afrikaners taken throughout the 1960’s was first published in 1975 as a book entitled Some Afrikaners Photographed. The book immediately became a cause célèbre, reviled by the Afrikaner establishment and gingerly treated by the English media with even The Sunday Times refusing to run a review of it, because it challenged the official Afrikaner view of racial superiority and divine ordination. This week a new addition, Some Afrikaners Revisited, was released 32 years after the first one and 13 years into South Africa’s democracy.