The case for recognition of ethical capital as part of the six capitals model

by | Oct 2, 2019 | CREP, CREP V9I1

The case for recognition of ethical capital as part of the six capitals model

Authors Cynthia Schoeman

ISSN: 2519-7886
Affiliations: Managing director of Ethics Monitoring & Management Services Proprietary Ltd; founding director of the Ethics Practitioners’ Association (EPA); Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA)
Source: The Corporate Report, Volume 9 Issue 1, 2019, p. 5 – 8

Abstract

None

Addressing the challenge of withdrawal of lump sum retirement benefit payments in South Africa: Lessons from Australia

by | Oct 1, 2019 | CILSA, CILSA V50 I1 2017

Addressing the challenge of withdrawal of lump sum retirement benefit payments in South Africa: Lessons from Australia

Authors Motseotsile Clement Marumoagae

ISSN: 2522-3062
Affiliations: Senior Lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
Source: Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, The, Volume 50 Issue 1, p. 129 – 146

Abstract

This paper discusses the South African government’s approach in addressing its concern regarding members of retirement funds who are unable to care for themselves when they reach retirement. The paper highlights the challenge of such members’ increased risk of not being able to keep the same standards of living as during their working life and outliving the retirement benefits which they received when they retired. This paper evaluates the impact of receiving lump sum payments either before reaching the retirement age or upon retirement on the ability of members to care for themselves during retirement. It further examines whether the government’s intervention through the intended compulsory preservation of retirement benefits would lessen the risks of members outliving their retirement benefits. The paper argues that while the thought of introducing compulsory preservation seems sound, compulsion would not necessarily cater adequately for the varied needs of all retirement fund members. Further this paper argues, that South Africa should draw lessons from Australia and allow those members who are able to justify the need to be paid their entire benefit when they exit their funds, to receive their benefits in full.

The value of participation and legitimacy in the constitution-making processes of post-independence Cameroon and post-apartheid South Africa

by | Oct 1, 2019 | CILSA, CILSA V50 I1 2017

The value of participation and legitimacy in the constitution-making processes of post-independence Cameroon and post-apartheid South Africa

Authors Justin Ngambu Wanki

ISSN: 2522-3062
Affiliations: None
Source: Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, The, Volume 50 Issue 1, p. 109 – 128

Abstract

In this article I contend that the Constitution-making process in post-apartheid South Africa provides a suitable paradigm that could enable post-independence Cameroon to break away from the past neo-colonialist and authoritarian ideologies in its future Constitution-making processes. Cameroon’s Constitution-making deficit can be traced back to the independence Constitution-making process which implicitly facilitated neo-colonialism. Conversely, the Constitution-making process in post-apartheid South Africa espoused a break from apartheid, oppression, and authoritarianism. The nature and structures of the resultant Constitutions of the two countries attest to this view. Using the Constitution-making process in post-apartheid South Africa as an appropriate paradigm, I argue for a new trajectory as a response to post-independence Cameroonian Constitutions’ subjection to neo-colonialism and authoritarianism. Inspiration from the South African paradigm of introducing the judiciary into the Constitution-making process is a novelty worthy of emulation by post-independence Cameroon. This paradigm promises greater legitimacy in the Constitution-making process and renders the final Constitution more ‘self-binding’ (binding on Cameroonians). The suitability of the South African paradigm is informed by the imperative to realign post-independence Cameroonian Constitutions with conventional and democratic principles of Constitution-making as exemplified by the post-apartheid South African model. In this way the Constitution-making process in post-independence Cameroon would systematically eradicate the ‘chicanery-approach’ of neo-colonialists and their neo-colonial acolytes, so that the resulting constitution is a manifestation of the will of the people.

The anatomy of African jurisprudence: A basis for understanding the African socio-legal and political cosmology

by | Oct 1, 2019 | CILSA, CILSA V50 I1 2017

The anatomy of African jurisprudence: A basis for understanding the African socio-legal and political cosmology

Authors Dial Dayana Ndima

ISSN: 2522-3062
Affiliations: None
Source: Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, The, Volume 50 Issue 1, p. 84 – 108

Abstract

An examination of the anatomy of African jurisprudence reveals a thought system whose institutions relied on the convenience of maleness and manhood in the appointment of functionaries. In the context of an agrarian traditional society, this so-called principle of primogeniture provided much needed benefits associated with accountability, responsibility and maturity in the handling of the affairs of vulnerable members. Unfortunately, this principle was compromised by the essence of maleness, which blighted its efficacy. Virtually all leadership positions, including family headship and traditional leadership, were occupied by senior men. Womanhood was a sufficient disqualifying factor regardless of individual qualities and merit. This reality gave indigenous African law the undeniable label of a patriarchal system. As society changed, the shift towards the application of a non-sexist primogeniture principle developed among many families and communities, living mainly in the countryside. This development gained impetus from the advent of the new constitutional dispensation which provided the courts with the opportunity to nullify the discredited male primogeniture, thus paving the way for the adherents of African culture to appoint women as well, where appropriate. Hence sons and daughters now have equal chances to succeed their predecessors to family and traditional leadership positions in the post-apartheid customary law of succession.