Welcome to the Law, Race & Gender Research Unit

A summary of known dates for the provincial public participation process around the Traditional Courts Bill [B1-2012] is available for download. Please note that the summary is updated regularly, as new information becomes available.

The summary can be downloaded directly here, or from our dedicated Traditional Courts Bill resources page here.

The LRG has dedicated a page on its website to information and documents relating to the Traditional Courts Bill [B1-2012]. The National Council of Provinces accepted comments on the Bill until 15 February 2012, and now provincial public hearings will be held.

Please see our Traditional Courts Bill page here.

The Law, Race and Gender Research Unit and the Centre for African Studies invite you to a seminar titled The Land Question in Sub-Saharan Africa: longer term processes and the recent "land rush" by Professor Pauline Peters on 23 April 2012 at 12h30 - 14h00. All are welcome.

The Law, Race and Gender Research Unit invites you to a seminar by Helen Stacy, titled US Approaches to Human Trafficking, on 10 April at 12h00 - 14h00. All are welcome to attend.

The Rural Women's Action Research Project at the Law, Race and Gender Research Unit invites you to a seminar by Siyabu Manona on 30 March 2012 at 12h30-14h00.

All are welcome!

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) briefed the NCOP Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development about the Traditional Courts Bill today. The documents distributed by the Department can be found here under the heading Legislative Process Updates: B1-2012.

When, in December 2011, it was made known that the Traditional Courts Bill would be reintroduced in the National Council of Provinces as Bill 1 of 2012, the Law, Race and Gender Research Unit (LRG), along with several of its CBO and NGO partners, undertook to organise a two-day national workshop held in Johannesburg on 16-17 January 2012.

A workshop was organised by the Law, Race and Gender Research Unit in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, in order to give the strong communities in the surrounding areas of Nkomazi, Malelane, Driefontein and Daggakraal (who had missed out on the National Workshop on 16-17 January) an opportunity to get involved in the submission process.

The Law, Race and Gender Research Unit has voiced its concerns about the new Traditional Courts Bill [B1-2012] in a formal submission to the National Council of Provinces.

The LRG's submission is available here.

UCT's Law, Race and Gender Unit (LRG) has called for new legislation to replace the controversial Traditional Courts Bill. Introduced by government in 2008, the bill was withdrawn from the National Assembly last year after pressure from opponents. Its imminent reintroduction in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) was announced in mid-December, giving rural people two months to submit their comments by 15 February. Click here to read more...

Persons interested in receiving updates about upcoming LRG events, publications or research can join the LRG mailing list. Being on the mailing list is completely free of charge and you can join by simply e-mailing your name and details to Sue Wright with ADD ME in the subject line.

The work of the Southern Africa Food Lab (SAFL) and the Rural Women's Action Research Project (RWAR) are a good match for UCT's social responsiveness objectives, both in letter and spirit. Their research not only tackled two critical and complex social issues - food insecurity and the effects of customary law and the Traditional Courts Bill on women in rural South Africa, respectively - but also did so with energy and sensitivity, and offered solutions, to boot. Click here to read more...

On 25 November 2011, Sanele Sibanda (Wits School of Law) delivered a seminar titled Not purpose-made! Transformative constitutionalism, post-independence constitutionalism and the struggle to eradicate poverty to an engaging audience in the Criminology Seminar Room. This seminar was the last in the Rural Women's Action Research Project (RWAR) Seminar Series for 2011.

The Law, Race and Gender Research Unit has recently embarked on a research project to explore the "pathways" that rural citizens in KwaZulu-Natal utilise to access justice subsequent to having been a victim of a social contact or property-related crime.

The Rural Women's Action Research Project at the Law, Race and Gender Research Unit invites you to a seminar by Sanele Sibanda on 25 November 2011 at 12h30. The title of his presentation will be Not purpose-made! Transformative constitutionalism, post-independence constitutionalism and the struggle to eradicate poverty. All are welcome!

The Rural Women's Action Research Project hosted a workshop about customary marriages at the Mchunu Traditional Council office in Msinga (KwaZulu-Natal) on 3 November 2011 for traditional councillors and community members from the area.

Traditional communities are supposed to have elections in order to reconstitute, with a 40% elected component and a gender component, the traditional councils which are intended to support traditional leaders in their areas. Training on these elections was provided to 80 community members near Rustenberg on the 6th October 2011 by researchers investigating traditional council elections for the LRG.

On 7 October 2011, the Rural Women Action Research Project of the LRG hosted a lunch time seminar by Gavin Capps and Sayi Nindi as part of its Seminar Series.

The seminar was titled Bafokeng vs Bafokeng: Minerals, land identity, ownership and competing rights.

On 26 August 2011, the Rural Women Action Research Project of the LRG hosted a seminar by Gino Cocchiaro from Natural Justice and Mariam Mayet from African Centre for Biosafety. Their presentation was titled Traditional knowledge, intellectual property rights, power and benefit-sharing: Case studies/evidence from Pelargonium, Rooibos and Hoodia.

The Rural Women Action Research Project at the Law, Race and Gender Research Unit hosted a seminar by Professor Paulus Zulu, Senior Fellow at the Maurice Webb Race Relations Unit at UKZN, on Friday the 16th of September.