Browsing by Author "Van Schalkwyk, Cecile"

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    Die basiese-struktuur-leerstuk : 'n basis vir die toepassing in Suid-Afrika, of 'n skending van die skeiding van magte?
    (LitNet, 2015-08) Van Schalkwyk, Cecile
    Die basiese-struktuur-leerstuk is in 1973 deur die hoogste hof van Indië ontwikkel in ’n poging om die misbruik van grondwetwysigings deur die dominante regerende party te voorkom. Die leerstuk bepaal dat, ten spyte daarvan dat die formele en prosedurele vereistes vir wysiging nagekom is, ’n wysiging ongrondwetlik sal wees indien dit die basiese struktuur van die Grondwet skend, negeer of vervang. Sedertdien het hierdie leerstuk ’n deurslaggewende rol gespeel in die beskerming van Indië se grondwetlike demokrasie en dit vind vandag ook aanwending in verskeie ander jurisdiksies. Of die leerstuk op dieselfde wyse in die Suid-Afrikaanse grondwetlike reg toepassing kan vind, is by geleentheid deur die konstitusionele hof oorweeg, maar geen finale beslissing bestaan in hierdie verband nie. Terwyl skrywers soos Samuel Issacharoff en Sujit Choudhry die oorname van die leerstuk in Suid-Afrika bepleit, is ander, soos Theunis Roux, nie so optimisties oor die moontlikheid van so ’n ontwikkeling nie. Sentraal tot die debat is die vraag of die leerstuk sal inbreuk maak op die skeiding van magte tussen die regsprekende gesag en die wetgewende gesag, aangesien dit aan die hof as ’n niedemokraties verkose instelling die mag gee om wysigings deur die demokraties verkose wetgewer te verwerp. Hierdie artikel oorweeg die potensiële oorname van die leerstuk in Suid-Afrika met verwysing na die wisselwerking tussen die leerstuk en die skeiding van magte. Die rol van die leerstuk in Indië word ondersoek om te bepaal hoe die hoogste hof aldaar te werk gegaan het om die leerstuk met die skeiding van magte te versoen. Daar word dan regsvergelykend gewys op die tekstuele en kontekstuele verskille wat die oorname van die leerstuk in Suid-Afrika se grondwetlike reg bemoeilik, en meer spesifiek, die wyse waarop die Suid-Afrikaanse model van die skeiding van magte so ’n oorname weerstaan. Voorts sal die akademiese debat tussen Issacharoff en Roux oor die leerstuk krities ondersoek word.
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    The constitutionality of religious observances in South African public schools
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Van Schalkwyk, Cecile; Botha, Henk; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Public Law
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The right to freedom of religion is one of the oldest of the internationally recognised freedoms and is entrenched in section 15(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“Constitution”). It is the hallmark of an open and democratic society and provides everyone with the right to practise their religion in the public sphere and to manifest their beliefs by way of religious dress, teaching, or the conducting of religious observances. Section 15(2) of the Constitution makes specific provision for religious observances to be conducted at state and state-aided institutions provided that (a) those observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities, (b) they are conducted on an equitable basis, and (c) attendance at them is free and voluntary. The Constitution has created a peculiar tension with the inclusion of section 15(2). On the one hand, it allows for the practice of religion in the public sphere, while on the other hand guaranteeing the right to religious freedom and freedom from religious coercion. In South Africa, religious observances are often conducted in the public school system. Public schools make provision for religious observances like prayer, worship, or the reading and interpretation of religious texts, while some schools even identify themselves as having a particular religious character or religious ethos. The South African Schools Act 84 of 1997 (“Schools Act”) delegates the power to determine rules on religious observances in public schools to the governing body of the school. In a country with a diverse citizenry it is often difficult for governing bodies to formulate rules that afford all learners an equitable right to religious observances, while being free from any religious coercion. What, from one perspective, would constitute a school community’s legitimate practice of their constitutionally guaranteed right to religion, might, from another, amount to a limitation of an individual learner’s right to be free to choose and practise his own religion or abstain from religious observances at all. The object of this study is to determine how the requirements for religious observances in state and state-aided institutions, as stipulated in section 15(2) of the Constitution and reiterated in section 7 of the Schools Act, must be interpreted within the context of public schools, to strike a constitutionally appropriate balance between the powers of school governing bodies and the right of learners to be free from religious coercion.