Multilevel Government Initiative (MLGI)

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    Electing councillors: A guide to municipal elections
    (University of the Western Cape, 2016) de Visser, Jaap; Steytler, Nico
    The electoral system for local government combines ward elections with proportional representation. It is regulated in at least four different statutes, the Electoral Act 73 of 1998, the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998, the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act 27 of 2000 and the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. More rules can be found in various regulations under these Acts. The result is an advanced but complex electoral system. This manual outlines the main features of the system in an accessible manner. The objective is to assist anyone who participates in the election or assists in making it happen. This includes voting officials, government officials, councillors, candidates, political parties and members of civil society. The manual also addresses the rules for filling vacancies in between elections. While the manual is comprehensive. it does not address every detail of the electoral system or every conceivable interpretation of the electoral laws. Further detail can be found in the various acts and regulations or obtained from the Independent Electoral Commission.
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    The 2010 Kenyan constitution and the hierarchical place of international law in the Kenyan domestic legal system: a comparative perspective
    (Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), 2013) Orago, Nicholas Wasonga
    The prominent use of international human rights law in a state’s domestic legal system depends on the hierarchical place occupied by international law in general, and international human rights law in particular, among the sources of law in that particular legal system. Two systems of receipt of international law in the domestic legal systems have been used by different states: monism, which looks to directly incorporate ratified international law treaties in a state’s domestic legal system; and dualism, which entails the transformation of international law into the domestic legal system through the domestication of ratified international law treaties by means of the enactment of parliamentary legislation. Kenya, as a Commonwealth country, has always primarily followed a dualist approach which requires that domesticating legislation be enacted by parliament for ratified international law treaties to have application in the domestic legal system. However, with the promulgation of the new Constitution in August 2010, international law has been given a more prominent role in the domestic legal system through the inclusion in the Constitution of a provision directly incorporating ratified treaty law into the Kenyan legal system as a legitimate source of law. This article is primarily focused on analysing the hierarchical place of international law, specifically international human rights treaty law, in the Kenyan domestic legal system in the context of the new constitutional dispensation. It recommends that in order for international human rights law to have a prominent place in the governance of the country, article 2(6) of the Constitution should be interpreted progressively so as to give international human rights law norms an infra-constitutional but a supra-legal status in the domestic legal system. In this way, international human rights law will act as a bulwark against recession to totalitarian rule, as well as safeguard the democratic and fundamental rights protection gains that were won in the struggle for constitutional change.
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    Local government reform in Zimbabwe: A policy dialogue
    (Community Law Centre, University Western Cape, 2010) de Visser, Jaap; Steytler, Nico; Machingauta, Naison
    On 3-4 November 2009 the Community Law Centre hosted a seminar entitled “Policy Dialogue on the Future of Local Government in Zimbabwe”. A diverse spectrum of local government practitioners was assembled to discuss issues related to local government in Zimbabwe. The seminar was structured around six critical themes relating to local government, namely socio-economic transformation, local government institutions and elections, local government financing, traditional authorities, local government functions and supervision of local government. Six authors from Zimbabwe prepared and delivered position papers on the above subject matters against the background of comparative comments from South African academics.