Open research questions in Legal Issues in South Africa
182 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,349 Legal Issues in South Africa papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The study identifies a gap in the literature on the role of traditional leaders in addressing corruption and violence in KwaZulu-Natal. The study highlights the need for further research on the impact of crime on the economy.
Revisiting How the Traditional Leaders in Pre- post-1994 Dealt with Anti-Corruption and Violence in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa · 2026 · DOISycophancy is a significant problem in Africa, particularly in Ghana. Corruption and poor accountability standards are major challenges in Africa. The study highlights the need to address the root causes of sycophancy.
The paper identifies a gap in the literature on the subject of sycophancy. There is a need to understand the motivations of sycophants and the linkages between sycophancy and corruption, underdevelopment, and poor accountability standards.
The study identifies a gap in the existing literature on the effectiveness of party constitutionalisation in achieving its intended goals. The paper notes that the phenomenon of party constitutionalisation in Nigeria's Fourth Republic has not been adequately studied.
The binary approach to the universalism versus cultural relativism debate is limited. The historical context of colonialism and power dynamics complicates this debate.
Critique on Universalism Versus Cultural Relativism Debate, With Special Attention to Customary Law and Constitutionalism In South Africa · 2026 · DOIThe universalism versus cultural relativism debate often neglects intra-cultural variations. The binary approach to this debate can lead to harmful stereotypes and legal interpretations.
Critique on Universalism Versus Cultural Relativism Debate, With Special Attention to Customary Law and Constitutionalism In South Africa · 2026 · DOIThere is a need to understand the interplay between South Africa's political landscape and social work education. The article identifies a gap in the literature regarding the impact of political instability, coalition governance arrangements, corruption scandals, and policy oscillations on social work education.
Politics in the lecture hall: The intersection of South Africa’s political landscape and social work education · 2026 · DOIThe liminal state of the South African democracy, characterised by ambiguity, chaos, uncertainty, and disorientation. The inadequate skill sets of both ecclesial and civil leaders in South Africa. The need for transformative ecclesial leadership to promote democracy and the common good.
The gap between the democratic values enshrined in the Bill of Rights and their implementation at the community level. The lack of transformative ecclesial leadership in South Africa.
Persistent divisions have fueled political instability and communal clashes. Challenges in providing stable electricity, healthcare, education, and infrastructure. The need for deliberate institutional reforms to strengthen the legislature.
The need for a comprehensive analysis of the current challenges facing the Nigerian legislature. The lack of a detailed examination of the impact of external factors on the development of the legislature.
The doctrine of separation of powers limits the ability of courts to intervene in Cabinet appointments. The lack of adequate oversight mechanisms for Cabinet appointments leads to potential abuses of power.
The current system lacks adequate oversight mechanisms for Cabinet appointments. There is a need for constitutional amendments to introduce parliamentary confirmation for Cabinet appointments.
It finds that successive regimes after Mbeki and Obasanjo exhibited poor commitment to implement the ideals of the APRM to further the gains made by the understudied regimes and thereby weakened the developmentalism push of the countries.
Irony of Development Agendas: Perspectives on APRM under Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo · 2021 · DOISection 3 of the NWA stipulates that water falls under the centralised control of the public trustee to, inter alia, improve the allocation, management, use, conservation and equality of access to this scarce resource.
Construing the transformed property paradigm of South Africa’s water law: new opportunities presented by legal pluralism? · 2021 · DOIKey terms have not been given distinctive constitutional contours, and it remains uncertain to what extent legislative instruments such as NEMA are legitimately filling these gaps.
The Problem with the Normative Content of Section 24 of the Constitution of South Africa · 2019 · DOIIt argues that the right has been left normatively impoverished, and especially the interaction and relationship with the cornerstone statute, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) remains unclear.
The Problem with the Normative Content of Section 24 of the Constitution of South Africa · 2019 · DOIAdditionally, the article responds to the call by the 1983 Surplus People Project Report for additional research into the rationale behind the location and timing of individual forced removals.
This topic has not been widely analysed in the works of scholars for the meantime, though the actualization of the issue at the level of the academic society should be helpful on dealing not only with this inner problem of civil service, but also on revealing broader political, economic, social context of its effective performance.
While this argument would also lend support to the argument of this paper—showing how positions based on Rawls' foundation, such as Brighouse and Swift's, would inevitably lead to the neglect of peoples outside of any Rawlsian sovereign state, whatever their educational needs—it is perhaps not so intuitively obvious why this follows from Rawls' position; explication of this would take us too far beyond the scope of this paper.
Challenging educational injustice: ‘Grassroots’ privatisation in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa · 2013 · DOIThe complexity surrounding the prosecution of criminal cases in which young victims or witnesses are involved, especially in cases of sexual abuse, remains controversial and often results in the criminal justice system being blamed for neglecting the needs and welfare of child victims and witnesses.
The constitutional right to protection of child victims and witnesses in the South African criminal justice system : director of Public Prosecutions, Transvaal v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and others · 2010The main findings suggest that while the ward committee may have been effective in certain aspects, the extent of its effectiveness was limited by the poor attendance at public meetings; the general impact of poverty on collective action; the exclusionary nature of organization through sectors; and the lack of substantive influence in the decision-making process.
Contextualizing Social Capital, Citizen Participation and Poverty through an Examination of the Ward Committee Systemin Bonteheuwel in the Western Cape, South Africa · 2008 · DOIThereafter we will address the pursuit of justice in respect of both apartheid’s perpetrators as well as its victims—the discussion will, however, be limited to the liability of those who fall outside the scope of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) mandate.
In preparing the paper, the author realised that many changes had taken place in the legal relationship between parent and child in South Africa since 1994 and that their implications for education management need to be explored.
The Court found that Minister Louis Le Grange's claim that the detainees had been trying to create a revolutionary climate was insufficient to permit their arrest under Section 28 of the 1982 Security Act.
Most-cited papers in Legal Issues in South Africa
- On Transitional Justice Entrepreneurs and the Production of Victims · Journal of Human Rights Practice · 2010 · 156 citations
- Neoliberalism and casualization of public sector services: the case of waste collection services in Cape Town, South Africa · International Journal of Urban and Regional Research · 2004 · 144 citations
- Formalities of Poverty: Thinking about Social Assistance in Neoliberal South Africa · African Studies Review · 2007 · 127 citations
- The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique · Law & Society Review · 2006 · 126 citations
- The participatory approach: Contradiction and co-option in Burkina Faso · World Development · 1998 · 122 citations
- Post-1994 South African Education · The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · 2014 · 103 citations
- Dilemmas of Expanding Transitional Justice, or Forging the Nexus between Transitional Justice and Development · International Journal of Transitional Justice · 2008 · 100 citations
- With the ballot and the brick · Progress in Development Studies · 2007 · 98 citations
- What's trust got to do with it? Non-payment of service charges in local authorities in South Africa · The Journal of Modern African Studies · 2004 · 96 citations
- Defenders of Democracy? Legitimacy, Popular Acceptance, and the South African Constitutional Court · The Journal of Politics · 2003 · 92 citations
Most recent work
- An Examination of the Key Drivers of Amendments to the Standard Forms of Contract in the South African Construction Industry · Journal of Construction in Developing Countries · 2026
- A critical review of South Africa's current parole system · Probation Journal · 2026
- Revisiting How the Traditional Leaders in Pre- post-1994 Dealt with Anti-Corruption and Violence in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa · OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development · 2026
- A normative approach to the minimum core: minimum requirements for a life of dignity · Human Science Research Council SA · 2026
- Sycophancy, a Tool for Upward Mobility, Self-Efficacy and Resilience in Africa · Theory and Practice in Social Studies · 2026
- Lekgotla as the essence of peace, law, and order: The case of Bakgatla Ba Mosetlha, North-West Province of South Africa · Global Change Peace & Security · 2026
- Serving the state at all costs? Being a civil servant in wartime South Sudan · Journal of Eastern African Studies · 2026
- Lost in emancipation. Das Ende vom Ende der großen Erzählungen · ZPTh – Zeitschrift für Politische Theorie · 2026
- 2024 Control Measures to Curb Violence and Better Regulate Security Services · Journal of Law Society and Development · 2026
- Has it ended in Tears? · Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies · 2026
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