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  • Watching the Watchdog: Security Oversight Law in the New South Africa

    This Article attempts to assess the experiences of post-apartheid South 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 national security 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 around the world. The Article concludes by making recommendations for the proper role of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in South African security oversight law.

  • Toward a South African Administrative Justice Act

    Section 33 of South Africa's Constitution provides fundamental principles of administrative justice. It also requires Parliament to adopt an Administrative Justice Act. This Article contends that without enactment of such legislation Section 33 will be ineffective in practice and may prove to be an obstacle to achieving the economic and social objectives of the Constitution. In addition, such legislation is essential to preserving the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the Constitutional Court.

  • Cultivating a Seedling Charter: South Africa’s Court Grows Its Constitution

    As South Africa emerges from the vestiges of apartheid, its Constitutional Court struggles to develop a jurisprudence that reflects the lasting ideals of a constitutional democracy. This Article examines the Court's use of international and foreign law in developing a unique form of constitutional jurisprudence. It argues that the Constitutional Court is in the process of developing an innovative form of decision-making that effectively combines domestically derived principles of justice with those developed in the international forum. This Article concludes that reliable methods of adjudication are firmly entrenched in the South African legal system and that its constitutional jurisprudence should serve as a model for other democratic systems.