Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf): Open Journal Systems
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A CRITICAL LEGAL PERSPECTIVE ON STATUTORY INTOXICATION – TIME TO SOBER UP?
No full textIntoxication has been a phenomenon since time immemorial. Alcoholic beverages play a central role in South African life and culture. Millions of rands are spent annually by government on “Arrive Alive” and “Zero Tolerance” campaigns in the fight against drunken driving. The liquor industry advertises aggressively, linking its products to positive cultural symbols and social needs. The use of alcohol and drugs is, however, also associated with personal, social and legal problems. The role of alcohol and drugs in South Africa’s escalating crime rate cannot be ignored. According to Jacobs, alcohol abuse is involved in a quarter of all admissions to general hospitals in the United States of America. This is precisely the reason that government put a total ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages when the Covid pandemic hit South Africa and hospitals were flooded with Covid patients. Alcohol abuse also plays a major role in the four most common causes of death of men aged 20 to 40: suicide, accidents, murder and cirrhosis of the liver. On 9 May 2022, the World Health Organization stated that the harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. A million deaths annually result from harmful use of alcohol globally, which amounts to 5,3 per cent of all deaths worldwide. It was further stated that alcohol consumption causes death and disability relatively early in life; in mortalities of persons aged 20–39 years, approximately 13,5 per cent of total deaths are attributable to alcohol. It is, therefore, alarming that people who become voluntarily drunk, to this day, still stand a chance of being acquitted in South African courts if the evidence reveals that, at the time of the act, the accused happened to fall into the grey area between “slightly drunk” and “very drunk”. This legal position was once again confirmed in the case of S v Ramdass. The decision represents yet another instance where an accused who committed alleged crimes in a state of voluntary intoxication was acquitted on both counts. South Africa’s legal position on voluntary intoxication is clearly at odds with the global and national call for stricter regulations on the public’s excessive use of alcohol, which makes a consideration of the Ramdass judgment, and the policy behind it, deserving of closer analysis
The Political Ecology of Farmer-Herder Conflict in Ghana: A Case Study of the Kwahu Afram Plains South District
Get PDFFarmer-herder conflict is an age-old phenomenon, which is widely spread in the West African sub-region. Current studies on the Ghanaian farmer-herder conflict have emphasised the land-related conflicts between indigenous farmers and nomadic herders. It has focused especially on environmental scarcity and climate change approaches. However, this study adopts the political ecology framework to highlight land conflicts between migrant farmers and nomadic herders, two migrant groups that are considered "strangers" to the Kwahu Afram Plains District. The study contributes to the broader debates on farmer-herder conflict. It provides contrary evidence with regard to the popular notion in literature and theory about the prevalence of land insecurity among nomadic herders. The study argues that migrant farmers in the study area experience more land insecurity compared to the nomadic herders. This is because of their history of immigration, their relationship with the Kwahu landowners, which is driving the escalating cost of accessing land, and disputes between landowning groups
Guerrillas and Combative Mothers: Women and the Armed Struggle in South Africa
Get PDFSiphokazi Magadla's Guerrillas and Combative Mothers rests on 40 life histories of women who joined armed struggles of many kinds to fight apartheid. The book is a result of her doctorate which in turn rests on work she did while being a research consultant at the Institute for Security Studies. In 2010, on the tenth anniversary of the United Nations' (UN's) adoption of Resolution 1325, Magadla and Chery Hendricks produced the documentary Women and Security Sector Transformation in South Africa (2010). Magadla interviewed Major General Ntsiki Memela-Motumi, then chief director of transformation management in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF); Thandi Modise, a previous chair of the Portfolio Committee on Defence in the National Assembly and; Mala Singh, former deputy national commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS). Memela-Motumi and Modise are both former combatants in Umkhonto weSizwe (MK). They provided rich accounts of how their experiences as women in MK informed their later roles in transforming the SANDF. However, the study also has a prior genesis in Magadla's own experience of being the daughter of a soldier in the Transkei Defence Force. He ended his military career at 40 after that force was integrated into the SANDF. Her mother, a psychiatric nurse, also made her aware of the unstable mental conditions of many soldiers who were demobilised from the various armed forces in the period around 1994. This personal knowledge plus the experience of working with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) gives the impetus for an important study. It is a study arising out of the complicated and turbulent moment in time when seven armies were integrated. These seven armies include the South African Defence Force (SADF), MK, the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) and the four 'homeland' armies. This was a period in which those who had chosen to fight apartheid were faced with the question of whether they were career soldiers or not; and whether a return to civilian life was possible now that there was no longer a war
Bigen Africa Services v City of Cape Town: Audit Culture and State Self-Review in the Water and Sanitation Sector
No full textIn Bigen Africa Services (Pty) Ltd v City of Cape Town (WC) (unreported) case number 18681/2020 of 1 June 2021, the Western Cape High Court found that the inclusion of a local office as a pre-qualification criterion in tenders for professional water and sanitation services fell afoul of section 217(1) of the Constitution. This provision requires all organs of State to contract for goods or services in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective. The court's reasoning on this point can be critiqued on the basis that it conflated distinct tests for determining the materiality of a deviation. However, the case raises broader concerns around the pre-eminence of audit over operational logic in the water and sanitation sector, and the use of state self-review to resolve the conflict
Variability of ambient particulate matter loading at Henties Bay, Namibia
No full textThe Namibian coast is one of the areas of international interest for aerosol studies. This is due to the region’s importance for the global radiation budget because of the presence of a semi-permanent stratocumulus cloud along the coast. Aerosol particles may scatter/absorb radiation and directly influence how long clouds last by modifying their properties. This is all dependent on the particles’ chemical and physical properties because of the sources they were emitted from. In this study, we identified and investigated episodes of high (HAE) and low (LAE) PM concentrations and the meteorology that may favour their occurrence. Here, we investigated PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less) and PM10 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less) at Henties Bay, Namibia. Daily aerosol measurements were taken with E-samplers between 15 and 29 July 2019. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model was used to investigate the long-range atmospheric transport of air masses that reached Henties Bay. The study found that during HAEs, the average PM2.5 concentration was 28.40 ± 18.10 µg/m3 and the average PM10 concentration was 68.20 ± 44.3 µg/m3. In contrast, during LAEs, the average PM2.5 concentration was 13.3 ± 9.52 µg/m3 and the average PM10 concentration was 30.00 ± 23.00 µg/m3. In both fractions, there was an observed dominant contribution from marine sources
A Remarkable Triumph of the 2023 Oral & Dental Health Congress & Exhibition
Get PDFI am honoured to share with you a comprehensive report on the South African Dental Association’s (SADA) standout event of the year, the SADA Oral & Dental Health Congress & Exhibition, which took place from August 25th to 27th, 2023, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
Strategies for Climate-Change Resilience Among Maize Farmers in Lesotho
No full textMaize is a staple crop in Lesotho; hence, it can be vital in improving food security and strengthening the economy. However, climate change necessitates the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in the growing of maize. It is assumed that small-scale maize farmers lack awareness of climate change and mitigation strategies. This hypothesis has not yet been assessed in Lesotho, especially in the study area; hence, this study is conducted to evaluate it. One hundred small-scale maize farmers from Mafeteng and Mohale’s Hoek Districts were selected to participate in the study. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The results show that small-scale maize farming in Mafeteng and Mohale’s Hoek is dominated by older women (54%) who are within the age group 56 to 65 years (32%) with a low level of formal education (33%). 70% of farmers have been in farming for more than 20 years. Most (70%) of farmers indicated that their maize production is negatively affected by climate change, and 51.7% of farmers experienced poor yield, maize quality, and rainfall. This has led to food insecurity (44%). Therefore, 89% of farmers want to increase fertiliser use to maximise production and improve food security. 37% of farmers desire to switch to CSA, and the majority (83%) intend to adopt CA systems to mitigate climate change. Further studies are recommended to identify LikotiLikoti’s system’s ability to boost agricultural yields and increase food production, combat soil erosion, and enhance fertility and to assess if Machobane system - Mantsa Tlala, or “expeller of hunger leads to a rise in per capita food production and overall land productivity
Emergency Powers and Human Rights Derogations under the Constitution of Lesotho
No full textConstitutions worldwide occasionally reach moments of public emergency when deviation from the ordinary normative framework is inevitable. To regulate the exercise of public power even during such moments, constitutions have provisions for emergencies and derogation from the normative frameworks. The Constitution of Lesotho is no exception. Section 21, read with section 23, provides both procedural and substantive requirements for the use of emergency powers and derogation from human rights. This constitutional framework exists alongside other pieces of legislation, such as the Public Health Order of 1970, the Emergency Powers Order of 1988 and the Disaster Management Act of 1997. These pieces of legislation, except the Disaster Management Act, predate the Constitution. Hence, they are not in harmony with the Constitution. The two recent incidences of using emergency powers – the 2020 coronavirus-induced state of emergency and the 2022 recall of parliament state of emergency. These two incidences laid bare two problems relating to the emergency powers regime in Lesotho. Firstly, there is no harmony between the Constitution and pieces of legislation relevant to the use of emergency powers. Secondly, the jurisprudence of the superior courts on the subject is still underdeveloped. The purpose of this article is to critically analyse the constitutional and legislative framework for exercising emergency powers and human rights derogation in Lesotho
Editorial: Celebrating the Legacy of Professor Willemien du Plessis in Customary Law and Land Issues
No full textIn the world of academia, there are individuals who stand as beacons of inspiration, mentorship, and unwavering commitment to the pursuit of knowledge. Professor Willemien du Plessis, a stalwart in the field of law and an esteemed academic for over three decades at the North-West University, is unequivocally one such luminary. Her journey through the realms of land and customary law issues in South Africa has not only left an indelible mark on her students and colleagues but has also had a profound impact on the broader legal community. As she prepares to embark on a well-deserved retirement, we, the colleagues and peers whose lives she has touched, take it upon ourselves to celebrate her exceptional contributions with this special edition
A baseline study on the prevalence of microplastics in South African drinking water: from source to distribution
No full textDue to the worldwide increasing prevalence of microplastics in the aquatic environment, this study aimed to perform a screening of the source and drinking water of South Africa’s largest bulk drinking water supplier to determine the extent to which microplastics occur in the water. Source water samples, samples immediately after treatment, and samples in the distribution network (Johannesburg, Mabopane, Garankua and Pelindaba) were analysed. Microplastics concentrations in the source water ranged from 0.24 to 1.47 particles/L, immediately after treatment from 0.56 to 0.9 particles/L, and in the distribution network from 0.26 to 0.88 particles/L. Most of the microplastics found in the water were classified as ‘fragments’ and a few as ‘fibres’. The control sample (indicating contamination during sample preparation and analysis) showed 0.34 particles/L, which was higher than some of the samples taken, indicating very low microplastics concentrations in these samples. Little evidence was found that the drinking water treatment processes reduced the number of microplastics from the source to the final treated water. No evidence could be found that the pipes in the distribution network contribute to microplastics in the tap water. The most frequently found polymer in the samples was rubber. Based on mass, however, as a function of particle size and polymer density, ethylene-vinyl-acetate (a polymer commonly used as foam in sporting equipment and flip-flops) comprised 54% of the microplastics and polyethylene (standard and chlorinated) 25%