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- ItemThe Regulation of Airbnb: A Property Law Perspective(2023-03) Lavita, Gisele Chloe; Boggenpoel, Zsa-ZsaCurrently, short-term rental operations like Airbnb are not regulated by national legislation in South Africa. This dissertation determines the implications of shortterm rental operations like Airbnb on the relevant South African role-players, namely (a) hosts; (b) guests; (c) neighbours; (d) the tourism industry; (e) the hospitality industry; and (f) the South African Government. The overarching intention of this dissertation is to determine the impact of short-term rental operations on the rights, obligations, and remedies of neighbours within the South African short-term rental context. In this light, this dissertation explores the current legal position of short-term rental operations in South Africa. Furthermore, the legislation applicable to shortterm rentals and the potential challenges of short-term rental operations is explored. Additionally, the potential implications that the Tourism Amendment Bill of 2019 may have on role-players in the short-term rental context is discussed. The study also explores the applicability of landlord-tenant law in the Airbnb short-term rental context. In particular, the research is centered on determining whether Airbnb hosts can be regarded as landlords and whether Airbnb guests can be regarded as tenants. To this end, the Airbnb terms of service are contrasted with the principles of a lease agreement to determine whether the Airbnb host-guest agreement can be regarded as a lease agreement. This exposition indicates the potential rights, obligations and remedies that would be applicable to Airbnb hosts and guests if they amount to landlords and tenants. The dissertation also establishes the potential implications of neighbour law on short-term rental operations in South Africa. Specifically, emphasis is placed on determining whether a neighbour has a nuisance law claim when they experience an interference with the use and enjoyment of their property due to a host’s shortterm rental operations. In this regard, the research considers case law regarding nuisances to determine potential situations where a short-term host’s behaviour could be regarded as posing an unlawful nuisance that is actionable under the common law. This exploration is relevant in determining the factors courts may consider when hearing a nuisance matter in the short-term rental context. Consequently, this dissertation considers the neighbour law remedies that may be available to neighbours whose property rights are infringed by a short-term host’s rental operations. In this regard, the requirements of the relevant neighbour law remedies are discussed to determine what a neighbour must prove to rely on the various remedies available. Furthermore, this dissertation investigates whether the neighbour of a short-term rental host may have a section 25(1) claim for an unconstitutional arbitrary deprivation of property. The purpose of this investigation is to determine the remedies available to neighbours of short-term hosts who experience property interferences due to short-term rental operations. Finally, this dissertation explores three regulatory approaches to short-term rental operations in South Africa, namely: (a) enacting national legislation to govern short-term rental operations; (b) passing municipal by-laws to allow local municipalities to govern short-term rental operations based on the circumstances relevant to short-term rentals in the specific municipality; and (c) leaving short-term rental operations unregulated and allowing contract law to govern the relationship between host and guest. In this regard, case studies of the regulation of Airbnb in London and Berlin are conducted. These case studies examine the consequences of London’s lenient yet clear regulation of short-term rentals in comparison to Berlin’s more stringent regulation of short-term rentals. Based on the case studies conducted and the exploration of the three potential regulatory approaches, this dissertation proposes that the South African Government enacts national legislation regulating short-term rental operations. It is proposed that the relevant national legislation should provide a framework of regulations that are implemented by municipalities based on the local circumstances of each municipality. In this regard, recommendations for the regulation of short-term rental operations are provided.
- ItemVan daar na waar? 'n Oorsigtelike blik op die herstandaardiseringsdebat van Afrikaans(LitNet, 2022) Basson, EarlStandaardafrikaans geniet sedert 1925 tot vandag hoëtaalvormstatus terwyl ander variëteite, wat hoofsaaklik met bruin Afrikaanssprekendes geassosieer word, ’n laetaalvormstatus het. Dit is ’n gevolg van die invloed van Afrikanernasionalisme op die standaardisering van Afrikaans, waartydens die heterogeniteit van die Afrikaanse spraakgemeenskap misken is. Sedert die laat 1980’s was daar verskeie gesprekke oor die heroriëntasie, oftewel die herstandaardisering, van Afrikaans. Dit behels die daarstelling van ’n standaardvariëteit wat enersyds losgewikkel is van die Afrikanernasionalistiese ideologie, maar wat andersyds die totaliteit van die Afrikaanse spraakgemeenskap weerspieël. Ondanks die entoesiasme vir só ’n (hersiene) standaardvariëteit was daar destyds en is daar vandag steeds onduidelikheid oor hoe om Afrikaanste herstandaardiseer. Hierdie onduidelikheid is ’n gevolg van die uiteenlopende hantering van die begrip herstandaardisering. Ten einde dié onduidelikheid te belig, word die voorstelle deur Van den Heever (1987), Van Rensburg (1991, 1992), De Wet (1997), Willemse (2009), Hendricks (2011, 2016, 2017) en Odendaal (2012) bespreek, asook meer onlangse beskouings oor herstandaardisering deur Le Cordeur (2020), McLachlan (2020), Van Coller en Steyn (2020) en Van Huyssteen (2020). Om die behoefte aan ’n herstandaardiseringsprojek beter te begryp, word die begrip standaardtaalideologie onder die loep geneem. Hieruit volg ’n bespreking van Bourdieu (1977:650) se beskouing van die skoolstelsel as ’n ruimte wat die standaardtaalideologie handhaaf en sodoende die standaardtaal as die enigste legitieme taal voorhou. Binne die Afrikaans-klaskamer word Standaardafrikaans ook voorgehou as die enigste legitieme vorm van Afrikaans, terwyl variëteite soos Kaapse Afrikaans in so ’n mate gestigmatiseer en gedelegitimeer is dat daardie stigmas – te wete dat Kaapse Afrikaans onbeskaafd, onderontwikkeld en onsigbaar is – vandag nog aan dié variëteit kleef. Ter afsluiting, om hierdie stigmas teen te werk en Kaapse Afrikaans te legitimeer sodat dit as ’n voedingsbron gebruik kan word om die huidige standaardvariëteit te verbreed, stel ek voor dat Kaapse Afrikaans inskoolhandboeke opgeneem moet word. Deur Kaapse Afrikaans in Afrikaans-skoolhandboeke op te neem, word die geleentheid geskep om Afrikaans as die somtotaal van sy variëteite aan te bied en ook om die variëteite as legitieme taalsisteme te vestig.
- ItemMoontlikheid en werklikheid. Waarom kan Suid-Afrika (nog) nie die droom van ’n inklusiewe samelewing verwesenlik nie?(LitNet, 2022) Lategan, BernardDie artikel fokus op die vraag waarom Suid-Afrika na bykans drie dekades van ’n inklusiewe politieke bestel skynbaar nog nie daarin kon slaag om die ideaal van ’n inklusiewe samelewing te verwesenlik nie. Verskillende faktore dra hiertoe by. Een faktor wat nie voldoende in aanmerking geneem word nie, is oorgelewerde denkpatrone wat die nuwe bestel in sy nuwe formaat steeds kniehalter. Wat onderskat word, is die vertrekpunt van hierdie denke, die kontoere wat dit volg en veral die rigting of oriëntasie waarin dit plaasvind. Om hierdie probleem te illustreer, word insigte uit Mahmood Mamdani se onlangse boek, Neither settler nor native, as uitgangspunt geneem. Mamdani (self ’n sterk voorstander van dekolonialisering) beweer dat die dekolonialiseringsprojek in vele opsigte misluk het omdat die nuwe bewindhebbers die denkwyses, sosiale kategorieë en burgerskapsmodelle van die koloniale era oorgeneem en steeds gehandhaaf het. Aan die hand van voorbeelde soos die “makmaak” van die Amerikaanse Weste, die opkoms van die Nazi-ideologie in Duitsland, die skynbaar onoorbrugbare kloof tussen Israeliet en Palestyn in die huidige staat Israel en die verdeling tussen Noord- en Suid-Soedan maak hy duidelik hoe die (koloniale) verlede steeds die (gedekolonialiseerde) hede beïnvloed. Suid-Afrika is volgens Mamdani die een uitsondering, waar die bestaande orde op radikale wyse vervang is deur ’n inklusiewe politieke bestel waarin alle burgers in teorie dieselfde regte het. Die ironie is egter dat formele inklusiwiteit nog nie in dieselfde mate tot sosiale inklusiwiteit gelei het nie. Waarom word die moontlikheid wat die Grondwet bied, nie ’n werklikheid nie? Die insigte van Eberhard Jüngel oor die verhouding tussen moontlikheid en werklikheid bied ’n sleutel om hierdie dilemma te ontknoop. Anders as Aristoteles, wat die werklikheid as van “meer waarde” as die moontlikheid ag, dring Jüngel daarop aan dat die prioriteit aan die moontlikheid gegee word. As die bestaande werklikheid die norm is, kan ons alleen herhaal wat reeds werklikheid was. As die moontlikheid die voorrang het, open dit geleenthede om ’n nuwe werklikheid tot stand te bring. Hiervoor is verbeelding nodig – nie as ontvlugting uit die werklikheid nie, maar as die energie wat “intensie” (Husserl) loslaat om – vry van die hede – ’n alternatiewe toekoms te bedink en strategieë te ontwikkel om vanuit hierdie visie terug te dink na die hede. Hierdie moontlike toekoms word werklikheid deur elke dag op te tree in terme en volgens die waardes van die nuwe visie.
- ItemConstitutionalising copyright: A principled normative theory for transformative copyright adjudication(2023-03) Shay, Richard Michael; Botha, Henk
- ItemEco-communitarianism : a poetics of the environment in East African literature(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Nabulya, Eve; Slabbert, Mathilda; Green, Louise; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study seeks to explore the ways in which stylistic techniques and modes of narration perform environmental activism in a selection of literary texts from East Africa. I reflect on the persuasive value of literary devices, notably personification, ekphrasis, metaphor and irony in effecting change in people’s attitudes towards the environment. My study considers how each of these devices enables conceptualization and animates conversations around contemporary issues in environmental discourse. I enlist environmentally committed texts: two dramas, three novels and five poems by East African writers to discuss the innovations and strategies through which the literary works access emotions and thus potentially influence the attitudes of readers. Drawing on Kenneth Burke’s notion of "persuasion to attitude" as derived from Aristotle's theory of rhetoric, I demonstrate that an ecocritical approach can transcend the intra-textual focus of literature and investigate a text’s persuasive power or what I prefer to call textual eco-activism. I note that such a method, for the works in focus, unveils an underlying ecological consciousness amenable to African communitarianism, what I term as eco-communitarianism. I maintain that these works, in different ways, offer alternative visions and reflect on pertinent issues related to human and nonhuman agency, art and the representation of the physical landscape, the viability of apocalyptic rhetoric in the environmental campaign, and the relationship between governance and environmental conservation. Nestled in postcolonial eco-criticism, this study is predicated on the understanding that environmental literary productions and related criticisms constitute acts of activism and efforts at changing the status quo.