Suchergebnisse

The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world's first and only permanent court for the investigation and prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed after 1 July 2002, has been hailed as the greatest event since the advent of the United Nations (UN). The relationship between some African states and the ICC has however becomefragile and strained. The situation has worsened since the Al-Bashir controversy,(in particular South Africa's failure to arrest the former Sudanese President on visit in South Africa) to the extent that, in 2016, the South African government announced its intention to withdraw from the ICC. This, in South Africa, was followed by the publication of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act Repeal Bill (B23-2016) (which was later withdrawn) and the International Crimes Bill (B37-2017) (which later lapsed in terms of National Assembly rules). The bills provide important insights into the South African government's approach to international crimes and criminal justice, revealing an awkward U-turn in terms of immunity granted to heads of state and senior state officials. Against that backdrop, and further with reference to the African scholarship concerning both the strained relationship between Africa, generally and the extended jurisdiction of the ACJHR, this article examines the most cited reasons for this precarious relationship. Some explanations seem more valid than others: African states' claims that the ICC targets Africans and threatens state sovereignty on the continent simply do not hold water. On the other hand, Africa's unease with the UN system, particularly the vexed veto system, might carry more weight, suggesting that the continent's discontent with the ICC is less about the court itself, and more about the UN and Security Council system and composition. The article, in the last part, turns to an evaluation of the prospects of the extended African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR), ...

Over the past few years, developments in the science of precise editing of human genomes using CRISPR-Cas9 have led many countries that lack specific laws in this area, such as South Africa (SA), to contemplate legal reform. Thaldar et al. recently published five principles to guide legal reform in SA on heritable genome editing. In a similar vein, concerns about the global impact of human germline genome editing have led to calls for a global regulatory mechanism. This is what the World Health Organization has tried to achieve with the recently published 'Draft governance framework for human genome editing'. In this article, we compare the policies proposed by the draft framework to the current SA legal position, as well as the five guiding principles. The article concludes that SA law is in need of reform in order to meet the global standards that the draft framework seems to be moving towards.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments opted to use agile methodologies to tackle various challenges. Policymakers did not follow the normal protocol of policymaking and governance; instead, they adopted a more agile policymaking process that deploys agile approaches such as policy labs, policy prototyping, policy stimulus and digital-ready policies. In addition, health scientists were primarily responsible for most of the policies adopted during the pandemic. This was a major change in the policy arena. All these changes gave birth to what is currently known as "agile governance". Although not new, this form of governance has taken the world by storm, especially during the pandemic. While other regions across the world have routed for agile governance, it is not clear where Africa stands in this debate. This paper, therefore, assesses Africa's readiness for the so-called "agile governance" as the new normal. Drawing from a qualitative desktop research based on an extensive literature review and a content analysis. The study findings reveal that the future and adoption of agile governance in Africa appear bleak. Unless some changes are implemented, Africa may continue to trail behind Europe and other world regions. This is because there are still many deterrents, such as a lack of efficient leadership, the bureaucracy dilemma, the skills gap, and the legislative challenge that the continent must deal with before even thinking of becoming agile. To remedy these challenges, we conclude that African governments adapt to change by employing flexible action plans like adopting a flexible blueprint to guide agile governance strategies; innovation; streamlining bureaucracies; reskilling current public servants, and creating agile mindsets. Keywords: Agility, Agile governance; Agile policymaking; Agile manifesto

The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic initially witnessed in China (Wuhan) brought unprecedented devastation in China and other countries. No country was immune to the virus, and heads of state and policymakers had to draw up and implement robust domestic policies to contain the spread of the virus. From an Afrocentric perspective, the virus had dire consequences for African states, considering that most are minor and driven by weak economies. Narrowing this down to South Africa, the virus brought significant repercussions. In South Africa's 29 years of democracy, the state still faces major social ills such as unemployment, poverty, and inequality. The virus's arrival worsened matters for the South African government, which needed new measures for the majority black marginalised population. As the government could not do it alone, the role of third parties, such as civil society, became fundamental as civil society is of the utmost importance globally, particularly for Africa and Developing Economies. Driven by a qualitative research approach, the purpose of this article was to ponder the role of civil society in developing economies with specific reference to South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show that the government's role as a single actor in dealing with the pandemic was deficient, as the pandemic crippled the health system. Civil society was pivotal in South Africa during the pandemic and assisted the government with various socio-economic activities, particularly for the marginalised population. Keywords: Afrocentric, Developing economies; Civil society; COVID-19; South Africa

Social work practice is a very unique profession and its domain of practice has grown beyond the known traditional one. Due to its wider scope, social workers are seen as frontline workers during natural disasters. The aim of this paper was to explore the challenges faced by social workers dealing with victims and survivors of natural disasters. The study adopted qualitative research approach and exploratory research design. Five social workers were purposively sampled to form part of individual semi-structured interview from Tzaneen Municipality. Data was collected until the level of saturation and analyzed thematically. The study revealed that social workers lack resources and proper training to deal with the victims and survivors of natural disasters. Moreover, the study found that there is poor inter-professional collaboration, role ambiguity and shortage of staff when disasters erupt. The study concludes that social workers are understaffed, have too much workload and are likely to experience burnout in their effort to assist victims and survivors of natural disasters. To that end, the study recommends that Department of Social Development should employ more social workers so that they can to respond during and after natural disasters.

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered every industry's operation and safety requirements, including that of the construction industry. Different measures are thus required to mitigate the spread of the disease among construction site workers. This article explores the basic measures construction organisations have instituted at construction project sites to curb the spread of the virus among construction site workers. A qualitative research method was adopted for the study, while data were collected through open-ended questions. Summative content analysis was employed to analyse the qualitative data and determine the frequency of keywords that were further translated to quantitative measurements. The study determined that construction organisations have largely instituted some basic measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 on sites, whereas most organisations were lacking in the area of social distancing. COVID-19 is still new; therefore, the body of knowledge is still in the infancy stage. To date, there is no evidence of empirical studies that addressed the compliance level of Nigerian construction organisations with basic measures for curtailing the spread of COVID-19. Policymakers could adopt the interventions arising from this study to mitigate the spread of the virus.