Browsing by Author "Steytler, Nicolaas"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Anti-corruption initiatives in South Africa since 1994: a critical evaluation
    (2013) Mosselini, Kurt; Steytler, Nicolaas
    The legacy of apartheid may be likened to a Hydra. This mythical beast was rumoured to be large in stature, with poisonous breath. However, the trait it was better known for was that it possessed many heads and for every one head that was cut off, two would grow in its place. The elimination of the apartheid system effectively cut off the head of this hydra, severely wounding the beast but giving birth to various other terrors. Public sector corruption is one of those terrors. As an individual who was too young to be a part of the battle against apartheid, I have recognised that there is still a battle that needs to be won. As corruption continually thwarts the efforts of those who died for the liberation of South Africa and hinders the upliftment and development of the State, it becomes necessary to combat this scourge. However, before going into battle one must first understand the battle arena. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to gain understanding as to how the South African Government has attempted to combat corruption by means of policy and legislation. The information gained during this process may be used to identify areas of weakness, which may be considered in restrategising anti-corruption efforts. This battle against corruption needs to include all South Africans as public sector corruption has a negative impact on all who find themselves within our boarders. Thus, we cannot call ourselves truly liberated before this enemy of good governance is defeated.
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    Good governance in state institutions supporting South Africa’s system of multi-level government
    (University of Western Cape, 2013) Ramela, Mmatlou Phinah; Steytler, Nicolaas
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    Good governance in state institutions supporting South Africa’s system of multi-level government
    (University of Western Cape, 2013) Ramela, Mmatlou Phinah; Steytler, Nicolaas
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    The impact of the national council of provinces on legislation
    (2013) Mafilika, Vuyokazi Abegail; Steytler, Nicolaas
    The paper focuses on the role of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in the national legislative process. An enquiry into the relevance of the NCOP when processing bills during the Third Parliament has been critical when reviewing this role. The paper studied all the bills processed by Parliament with particular interest in the amendments proposed by the NCOP. The legislative framework in which the NCOP functions was critical to determine whether it enables this institution to adequately fulfill this role. The objective of this paper was to assess whether or not the NCOP fulfills its constitutional role of representing provincial interests in the national legislative process. The paper has uncovered the following regarding the NCOP’s role in the national legislative process. • The NCOP role varies according to the different pieces of legislation it is considering. This means that the manner in which it processes and passes ordinary bills affecting provinces will be different from the way it considers those bills not affecting provinces. • The NCOP has thorough consultative process on bills affecting provinces, compared to the superficial role it plays on bills not affecting provinces. More ordinary bills not affecting provinces have been processed by Parliament; however, the NCOP has proposed more amendments to the minority of bills affecting provinces. • The electoral system of South Africa has weakened the caliber of delegates in the NCOP. This has unintended consequences on the strength of the NCOP as an institution to abide by its decisions or to challenge the National Assembly when there are disagreements. • The NCOP may be misguided about its role at times and not strategically situated to focus on matters of provincial competence. x The paper argues that the NCOP remains relevant and has achieved its constitutional mandate of representing the interests of provinces. However, more work needs to be done to ascertain a common view of what constitutes provincial interests. Furthermore, the NCOP should confine its scope to matters of provincial competence. Thus the small number of delegates will be focused on the issues that reflect the core mandate of this institution.
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    The impact of the national council of provinces on legislation
    (2013) Mafilika, Vuyokazi Abegail; Steytler, Nicolaas
    The paper focuses on the role of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in the national legislative process. An enquiry into the relevance of the NCOP when processing bills during the Third Parliament has been critical when reviewing this role. The paper studied all the bills processed by Parliament with particular interest in the amendments proposed by the NCOP. The legislative framework in which the NCOP functions was critical to determine whether it enables this institution to adequately fulfill this role. The objective of this paper was to assess whether or not the NCOP fulfills its constitutional role of representing provincial interests in the national legislative process. The paper has uncovered the following regarding the NCOP’s role in the national legislative process. • The NCOP role varies according to the different pieces of legislation it is considering. This means that the manner in which it processes and passes ordinary bills affecting provinces will be different from the way it considers those bills not affecting provinces. • The NCOP has thorough consultative process on bills affecting provinces, compared to the superficial role it plays on bills not affecting provinces. More ordinary bills not affecting provinces have been processed by Parliament; however, the NCOP has proposed more amendments to the minority of bills affecting provinces. • The electoral system of South Africa has weakened the caliber of delegates in the NCOP. This has unintended consequences on the strength of the NCOP as an institution to abide by its decisions or to challenge the National Assembly when there are disagreements. • The NCOP may be misguided about its role at times and not strategically situated to focus on matters of provincial competence. x The paper argues that the NCOP remains relevant and has achieved its constitutional mandate of representing the interests of provinces. However, more work needs to be done to ascertain a common view of what constitutes provincial interests. Furthermore, the NCOP should confine its scope to matters of provincial competence. Thus the small number of delegates will be focused on the issues that reflect the core mandate of this institution.
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    'The requirements for, and appropriateness of, stopping the equitable share of municipalities in terms of section 216'
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Rahim, Naushina Abdool; Steytler, Nicolaas; Ayele, Zemelak
    The aim of this research paper has been to answer the question whether the actions of the National Treasury in invoking section 216(2) of the Constitution in respect of the 59 municipalities for debt owed in arrears to the creditors Eskom and the water boards, has been legal. Did its decision meet the substantive requirements as well as the procedural requirements as set under the legal framework of the Constitution and the MFMA? The second question was to assess the value in using the intervention against defaulting municipalities, by looking at whether the intervention was effective and what impact did it have on the defaulting municipalities.
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    'The requirements for, and appropriateness of, stopping the equitable share of municipalities in terms of section 216'
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) Rahim, Naushina Abdool; Steytler, Nicolaas; Ayele, Zemelak
    The aim of this research paper has been to answer the question whether the actions of the National Treasury in invoking section 216(2) of the Constitution in respect of the 59 municipalities for debt owed in arrears to the creditors Eskom and the water boards, has been legal. Did its decision meet the substantive requirements as well as the procedural requirements as set under the legal framework of the Constitution and the MFMA? The second question was to assess the value in using the intervention against defaulting municipalities, by looking at whether the intervention was effective and what impact did it have on the defaulting municipalities.
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    South Africa
    (University of Toronto Press, 2019) Steytler, Nico; Steytler, Nicolaas; Muntingh, Lukas
    South Africa is facing a major public safety crisis threatening its constitutional democracy. Personal violent crime (murder, rape and robbery) remains among the highest in the world; conuption in the public service is rife; public protests about poor service delivery are frequent (Powell, O'Donovan, and De Visser 2015), widespread, and often tum violent; xenophobic attacks occur frequently (South African History Online 2015); and industrial strike action has also resulted in violence. Devastating natural disasters have, fortunately, been infrequent. The state institutions concerned with public safety and corruption are located mainly at the national level, but perform poorly to meet these diverse challenges. Moreover, the national government's response to crime has focused almost exclusively on law enforcement, neglecting primary, secondary and tertiary crime prevention of a socio-economic nature. The South African Police Service (SAPS), despite its size (nearly 194,000) (SAPS 2015, 309), has been demoralized by corruption from the top to the bottom, it has been politicized, and its public order policing is ill-equipped and inadequately trained to deal with frequent public disturbances. The National Prosecuting Autholity (NPA), too, has been politicized, and its success rate is declining (Redpath 2012). The national court system has run up huge backlogs in trying cases and the national Department of Correctional Services does little more than warehousing a large and growing prison population of some 42,000 people awaiting trial. Sentenced prisoners seldom receive the necessary services to reduce the risk of re-offending after release.
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    The withering away of politically salient territorial cleavages in South Africa and the emergence of watermark ethnic Federalism
    (Oxford University Press, 2019) Steytler, Nico; Steytler, Nicolaas
    The policy of apartheid was an attempt to territorialize the white/black racial cleavage through the creation of bantustans, confining black political aspirations to 13 percent of the country, while the remainder of the country continued under white minority dominance. This was to be done by fracturing blacks into ethnic-based territories. The failure of, and resistance to, apartheid resulted in the "constitutional moment" from 1990 to 1996 where the two major protagonists, the white minority, represented by the National Party (NP) and the African National Congress (ANC) sought to make the political salience of these manufactured territorial cleavages; they created a new narrative of a non-racial, non-ethnicity society and thereby undercut the salience of territory. This project was violently resisted by polities whose very political base lay in territory- the Afrikaner right wing and Zulu nationalises. However, the non-racial, non-ethnic narrative was dominant, although allowances were made for very limited accommodation of ethnic-based territories. After twenty-five years the unmaking of the salience of territorial cleavages has largely been successful; territorial policies based on race and ethnicity have largely withered away. Right-wing Afrikaners and Zulu nationalises' demands for an ethnic homeland have evaporated. Although ethnicity amongst the Africans has not disappeared, it is currently well catered for through a weak federal system. The non-territorial black/ white divide, manifested by the continued inequality in wealth between the two racial groups, is still the dominant cleavage, which has led to the increasing questioning of title non-territorial comprise between the ANC and the NP over the protection of property rights.