The Office of the Public Protector is not beyond review or criticism. But there is an important line that needs to be drawn beyond which criticism can degenerate into abuse whether of the incumbent or the office. This brief seeks to elucidate that very line.
The recent judgment of the Constitutional Court (CC) in the matter of South African Police Service v Solidarity obo Barnard [2014] ZACC 23 is noteworthy, not for what the application managed to achieve but, rather, for what it failed to.
The facts about income distribution in South Africa were set out in a previous brief. Here the focus will be on ways to think about it. Five guidelines are proposed.
The adoption of the newest SADC Tribunal Protocol has sought to rebirth the Tribunal after a long gestation period where it underwent significant review. The latest manifestation indicates that the region’s efforts at taking the rule of law, and regional integration, seriously are nothing short of being stillborn
The ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that the ‘Spy Tapes’ are to be released to the Democratic Alliance (DA), is an important decision for the rule of law. This brief tracks the case’s history and explains what the next steps will be.
To the lay mind, wealth and income often mean more or less the same thing. For economists, the terms are distinct. Wealth is the sum of all your assets less your liabilities and is a stock concept. Income is a flow and refers to what you receive in a given period, say a year. They are related, because income less consumption is an addition to wealth and wealth creates an entitlement to income in the form of interest, dividends, property rentals and the like, which form a component of income, alongside earnings and transfers (such as social grants).
On 26 August 2014 the HSF hosted a Roundtable event on Consultation and the Constitution. The event featured Mtende Mhango, Iraj Abedian and John Jeffery. This brief summarises some of the main themes of the evening.
The recent behaviour of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and the responses to it by the African National Congress (ANC), and the Democratic Alliance (DA), is worrying and troublesome. This brief explains why their conduct bodes ill for Parliament as an institution which is vital to democracy.