Jackie Dugard
Biographic Data
| ID | 3598289 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jackie Dugard |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jackie |
| FAMILY NAME | Dugard |
| SIGNATURE | DUGARD J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Witwatersrand |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2584-5678 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 31 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Transformative Constitutionalism and Land Rights: South Africa and Brazil
Brazil and South Africa have historical legacies and ongoing realities of intense racialized inequality and land injustice related to colonial dispossession and neoliberal private property capture. Against the backdrop of colonial and authoritarian rule, over the past 40 years both countries have pursued wide-ranging constitutional reform aimed at moving sociopolitical and material conditions in a more accountable, egalitarian direction. In both …
Gender-based harm in higher education in South Africa: Introducing the special issue
South African universities like to position themselves as bridge to a better future, drawing on an older set of ideas regarding universities as transformative agents when it comes to inculcating bo
Water Rights Struggles in Johannesburg and Detroit Revisited: Looking Beyond Courts at the Politics and Power of Rights-Based Legal Mobilization in a Neoliberal Global Order: A ‘Powerpack’ Analysis
Responding to the limits of court-based analyses and top-down position-taking in prevailing legal mobilization scholarship, this article goes beyond the courtroom to explore the value of rights-based legal mobilization from the perspective of those engaged in the campaigns to challenge racialized water disconnection in Johannesburg (2004–9) and Detroit (2014–). Against the backdrop of the ‘losing’ cases of Mazibuko and Lyda, the article finds evi…
Evaluating Transformative Constitutionalism in South Africa: A View from the Mineral Rights Adjudication Looking Glass
Against the backdrop of sustained critique of the South African Constitution, this article undertakes an empirical examination of post-apartheid transformative constitutionalism using the example of mineral rights adjudication. Focusing on a series of emblematic mineral rights cases tackling a range of transformation fault lines and interests, the article explores how the judiciary, as arbiter of transformative constitutionalism, has interpreted …
Research Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights
Property in a time of transition: An examination of perceptions, navigations and constructions of property relations among unlawful occupiers in Johannesburg’s inner city
One of the most enduring legacies of apartheid is the racialised in-access to property for the (black) majority of South Africans. The large unmet demand for accessible and affordable residential property close to work opportunities has resulted in widespread unlawful occupation of inner city buildings, which in the post-apartheid legal order has been shielded by a constitutional prohibition against arbitrary and unjust eviction. Yet, notwithstan…
Forging space for pro-poor change: The use of strategic litigation by the Socio-Economic Rights Institution of South Africa (Seri) to advance equality
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 132 - 155
Property rights in court: An Examination of Judicial Attempts to Settle Section 25’s Balancing Act Re Restitution and Expropriation
Section 25 of the South African Constitution – the ‘property clause’ – has recently attracted much popular criticism for being an obstacle to socio-economic transformation efforts. Undoubtedly, the issue of property rights was one of the most disputed topics during the historic negotiations in the run-up to the 1994 political transition in South Africa, and it remains a highly contested subject. Attempting to balance the interests of existing (la…
Power, suffering, and the struggle for dignity: Human Rights Frameworks for Health and Why They Matter
Testing the transformative premise of the South African Constitutional Court: A comparison of High Courts, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court socio-economic rights decisions, 1994–2015
The South African Constitutional Court was established in 1994 to herald a decisive break from the authoritarian apartheid legal order with its largely complicit, overwhelmingly executive-minded and status quo-oriented judiciary. There can be no doubt the court was designed to oversee a project of radical constitutional transformation that included the aims of advancing socio-economic equality and entrenching a new culture of judicial review and …
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentaries, Cases, and Materials
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentaries, Cases, and Materials." Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 33(3), pp. 269–270
Conflict Management in an Era of Urbanisation: 20 Years of Housing Rights in the South African Constitutional Court
Over the past 20 years, of the 23 socio-economic rights decisions handed down by the South African Constitutional Court, 15 judgments have related to the s 26 right to adequate housing, making it by far the most litigated socio-economic right. The relative frequency of housing rights cases before the Constitutional Court relates to the intensity of post-apartheid struggles over access to urban and peri-urban land. Analysing the contours and conse…
Closing The Doors of Justice: An Examination of the Constitutional Court’s Approach to Direct Access, 1995–2013
Across the developing world one of the structural mechanisms adopted to facilitate access to courts is enabling direct access to the highest court. Recognising the role that direct access can play to advance access to justice, the South African Constitution allows direct access to the Constitutional Court when it is in the interests of justice. This article fills this gap by evaluating – from a propoor perspective – the court's approach to direct…
Palestine and the International Criminal Court: Institutional Failure or Bias
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor's selection of 'situations' to investigate is highly controversial. Perhaps the most controversial has been the failure of successive Prosecutors to investigate crimes committed by Israel and Hamas in the course of Operation Cast Lead 2008^2009. Initially, this was justified on the ground that Palestine was not a state. In the author's view, this excuse is no longer valid since the recognition of the st…
Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Apartheid is a loaded term; saturated with history and emotion. It conjures up images and \nmemories of discrimination, oppression, and brutality; indulgence, privilege, and pretension; \nracism, resistance, and, ultimately, emancipation. All of which come to us through \nthe history of apartheid in South Africa. Although prohibited and criminalized by international \nlaw in response to the situation in southern Africa, the concept of apartheid \…
Let’s Work Together: Environmental and Socioeconomic Rights in the Courts
Under apartheid poor (black) people and the environment were viewed as antithetical. Poor communities were forcibly relocated to establish or expand game reserves and a range of militaristic interventions were imposed to 'protect nature', often at the expense of human rights.3 The environment was overwhelmingly associated as the preserve of the (white) middle class and was preoccupied with saving plants and animals. Under the post-apartheid dispe…
Introduction: Climate Change Justice: Narratives, Rights and the Poor
Climate change is one of the central challenges to the future of African countries and their people. Unless concerted efforts are made worldwide in a very short time to reduce emissions, climate change impacts in Africa are likely to be devastating
A Rights-Based Examination of Residents' Engagement with Acute Environmental Harm across Four Sites on South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin
The South African Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to an environment that is not harmful to his/her health or well-being. Nevertheless, the Witwatersrand basin – once a site of environmental beauty - has been ravaged by 160 years of gold mining, which has resulted in severe environmental damage in the form of toxic water and air and dust pollution that has not, to date, been addressed. In this context, we sought to ascertain the extent to…
Art or Science? Synthesising Lessons from Public Interest Litigation and the Dangers of Legal Determinism
In 2008, one of the largest funders of human rights organisations in South Africa, the Atlantic Philanthropies, published a report that identified several factors for optimal public interest litigation. Despite the relative density of organisations that conduct public interest litigation in South Africa, there has been little critical engagement with its findings. Yet this exercise is pertinent given the growing reliance by South African civil so…
Public Interest Litigation in South Africa: Special Issue Introduction
Public interest litigation in South Africa. Addresses a diverse range of topics which all fall within a broad definition of public interest litigation in South Africa: refugee rights, environmental rights, inner city as well as informal settlement housing rights, rights to basic services, decent prison conditions and the transnational arena of investor-state arbitrations
John Dugard’s Legacy to Human Rights Activism and Litigation
The first day of the conference was dedicated to John Dugard's work and legacy in human rights law in South Africa. This day addressed John's extensive academic contributions, as well as his more practical and strategic interventions in relation to human rights advocacy and litigation. One of the highlights of the day was a panel of past and present human rights lawyers and advocates, all of whom had had been influenced and inspired by John both …
More work for women: A Rights-based analysis of Women’s aces to basic services in South Africa
South Africa has a commendable legislative and policy framework for basic services that explicitly recognises historic disadvantage, including gender. Yet, as explored in this article, inadequate access to water and electricity services has a disproportionately negative effect on women. This is because there is a sexual division of labour within most households meaning that, in addition to typically being singly responsible for childcare, washing…
Rights, Regulation and Resistance: The Phiri Water Campaign
DWAF defines water regulation as 'a set of rules and functions that ensure a balance of interest between government as custodian of water, providers and citizens through ensuring compliance with minimum norms and standards'
Courts and the Poor in South Africa: A critique of systemic judicial failures to advance transformative justice
Under apartheid the judiciary failed to meaningfully confront a racially-divided South Africa in which civil and political rights were denied to the majority of South Africans. The aparthei
Judging the Judges: Towards an Appropriate Role for the Judiciary in South Africa's Transformation
In this article I draw on John Dugard's criticism of apartheid judges to initiate a discussion of the role and functioning of judges in the post-apartheid era. Using John's critique of the limits of judicial interpretation in an illegitimate order, I extend the analysis to review the record of the Constitutional Court in adjudicating socioeconomic rights cases post-1994. In doing so I propose a radical interpretation of the Court's role in societ…
Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Apartheid is a loaded term; saturated with history and emotion. It conjures up images and \nmemories of discrimination, oppression, and brutality; indulgence, privilege, and pretension; \nracism, resistance, and, ultimately, emancipation. All of which come to us through \nthe history of apartheid in South Africa. Although prohibited and criminalized by international \nlaw in response to the situation in southern Africa, the concept of apartheid \…
International Law and the South African Constitution
For over forty years, from 1948 to 1990, South Africa was in conflict with both the international community and international law. Apartheid, premised on race discrimination and the denial of human rights, was contrary both to the law of the UN Charter and to the norms of human rights, non-discrimination and self-determination generated by the post-World War II order. Although South Africa's foreign policy during this period was highly legalistic…
Palestine and the International Criminal Court: Institutional Failure or Bias
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor's selection of 'situations' to investigate is highly controversial. Perhaps the most controversial has been the failure of successive Prosecutors to investigate crimes committed by Israel and Hamas in the course of Operation Cast Lead 2008^2009. Initially, this was justified on the ground that Palestine was not a state. In the author's view, this excuse is no longer valid since the recognition of the st…
Rights, Regulation and Resistance: The Phiri Water Campaign
DWAF defines water regulation as 'a set of rules and functions that ensure a balance of interest between government as custodian of water, providers and citizens through ensuring compliance with minimum norms and standards'
Evaluating Transformative Constitutionalism in South Africa: A View from the Mineral Rights Adjudication Looking Glass
Against the backdrop of sustained critique of the South African Constitution, this article undertakes an empirical examination of post-apartheid transformative constitutionalism using the example of mineral rights adjudication. Focusing on a series of emblematic mineral rights cases tackling a range of transformation fault lines and interests, the article explores how the judiciary, as arbiter of transformative constitutionalism, has interpreted …
Property in a time of transition: An examination of perceptions, navigations and constructions of property relations among unlawful occupiers in Johannesburg’s inner city
One of the most enduring legacies of apartheid is the racialised in-access to property for the (black) majority of South Africans. The large unmet demand for accessible and affordable residential property close to work opportunities has resulted in widespread unlawful occupation of inner city buildings, which in the post-apartheid legal order has been shielded by a constitutional prohibition against arbitrary and unjust eviction. Yet, notwithstan…
Forging space for pro-poor change: The use of strategic litigation by the Socio-Economic Rights Institution of South Africa (Seri) to advance equality
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 132 - 155
Conflict Management in an Era of Urbanisation: 20 Years of Housing Rights in the South African Constitutional Court
Over the past 20 years, of the 23 socio-economic rights decisions handed down by the South African Constitutional Court, 15 judgments have related to the s 26 right to adequate housing, making it by far the most litigated socio-economic right. The relative frequency of housing rights cases before the Constitutional Court relates to the intensity of post-apartheid struggles over access to urban and peri-urban land. Analysing the contours and conse…
Closing The Doors of Justice: An Examination of the Constitutional Court’s Approach to Direct Access, 1995–2013
Across the developing world one of the structural mechanisms adopted to facilitate access to courts is enabling direct access to the highest court. Recognising the role that direct access can play to advance access to justice, the South African Constitution allows direct access to the Constitutional Court when it is in the interests of justice. This article fills this gap by evaluating – from a propoor perspective – the court's approach to direct…
A Rights-Based Examination of Residents' Engagement with Acute Environmental Harm across Four Sites on South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin
The South African Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to an environment that is not harmful to his/her health or well-being. Nevertheless, the Witwatersrand basin – once a site of environmental beauty - has been ravaged by 160 years of gold mining, which has resulted in severe environmental damage in the form of toxic water and air and dust pollution that has not, to date, been addressed. In this context, we sought to ascertain the extent to…
Art or Science? Synthesising Lessons from Public Interest Litigation and the Dangers of Legal Determinism
In 2008, one of the largest funders of human rights organisations in South Africa, the Atlantic Philanthropies, published a report that identified several factors for optimal public interest litigation. Despite the relative density of organisations that conduct public interest litigation in South Africa, there has been little critical engagement with its findings. Yet this exercise is pertinent given the growing reliance by South African civil so…
More work for women: A Rights-based analysis of Women’s aces to basic services in South Africa
South Africa has a commendable legislative and policy framework for basic services that explicitly recognises historic disadvantage, including gender. Yet, as explored in this article, inadequate access to water and electricity services has a disproportionately negative effect on women. This is because there is a sexual division of labour within most households meaning that, in addition to typically being singly responsible for childcare, washing…
Courts and the Poor in South Africa: A critique of systemic judicial failures to advance transformative justice
Under apartheid the judiciary failed to meaningfully confront a racially-divided South Africa in which civil and political rights were denied to the majority of South Africans. The aparthei
Court of First Instance? Towards a Pro-Poor Jurisdiction for the South African Constitutional Court
Despite being premised on a transformative constitution, the South African Constitutional Court has not always functioned as an institutional voice for the poor. This is apparent in the relatively low number of cases brought by poor people, as a percentage of the total number of cases in which decisions are handed down by the Court. This article examines the extent to which the Court can in fact be said to have a pro-poor jurisdiction. In particu…
International Law and the South African Constitution
For over forty years, from 1948 to 1990, South Africa was in conflict with both the international community and international law. Apartheid, premised on race discrimination and the denial of human rights, was contrary both to the law of the UN Charter and to the norms of human rights, non-discrimination and self-determination generated by the post-World War II order. Although South Africa's foreign policy during this period was highly legalistic…
Court of First Instance? Towards a Pro-Poor Jurisdiction for the South African Constitutional Court
Despite being premised on a transformative constitution, the South African Constitutional Court has not always functioned as an institutional voice for the poor. This is apparent in the relatively low number of cases brought by poor people, as a percentage of the total number of cases in which decisions are handed down by the Court. This article examines the extent to which the Court can in fact be said to have a pro-poor jurisdiction. In particu…
Judging the Judges: Towards an Appropriate Role for the Judiciary in South Africa's Transformation
In this article I draw on John Dugard's criticism of apartheid judges to initiate a discussion of the role and functioning of judges in the post-apartheid era. Using John's critique of the limits of judicial interpretation in an illegitimate order, I extend the analysis to review the record of the Constitutional Court in adjudicating socioeconomic rights cases post-1994. In doing so I propose a radical interpretation of the Court's role in societ…
Rights, Regulation and Resistance: The Phiri Water Campaign
DWAF defines water regulation as 'a set of rules and functions that ensure a balance of interest between government as custodian of water, providers and citizens through ensuring compliance with minimum norms and standards'
Courts and the Poor in South Africa: A critique of systemic judicial failures to advance transformative justice
Under apartheid the judiciary failed to meaningfully confront a racially-divided South Africa in which civil and political rights were denied to the majority of South Africans. The aparthei
More work for women: A Rights-based analysis of Women’s aces to basic services in South Africa
South Africa has a commendable legislative and policy framework for basic services that explicitly recognises historic disadvantage, including gender. Yet, as explored in this article, inadequate access to water and electricity services has a disproportionately negative effect on women. This is because there is a sexual division of labour within most households meaning that, in addition to typically being singly responsible for childcare, washing…
John Dugard’s Legacy to Human Rights Activism and Litigation
The first day of the conference was dedicated to John Dugard's work and legacy in human rights law in South Africa. This day addressed John's extensive academic contributions, as well as his more practical and strategic interventions in relation to human rights advocacy and litigation. One of the highlights of the day was a panel of past and present human rights lawyers and advocates, all of whom had had been influenced and inspired by John both …
Art or Science? Synthesising Lessons from Public Interest Litigation and the Dangers of Legal Determinism
In 2008, one of the largest funders of human rights organisations in South Africa, the Atlantic Philanthropies, published a report that identified several factors for optimal public interest litigation. Despite the relative density of organisations that conduct public interest litigation in South Africa, there has been little critical engagement with its findings. Yet this exercise is pertinent given the growing reliance by South African civil so…
Public Interest Litigation in South Africa: Special Issue Introduction
Public interest litigation in South Africa. Addresses a diverse range of topics which all fall within a broad definition of public interest litigation in South Africa: refugee rights, environmental rights, inner city as well as informal settlement housing rights, rights to basic services, decent prison conditions and the transnational arena of investor-state arbitrations
A Rights-Based Examination of Residents' Engagement with Acute Environmental Harm across Four Sites on South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin
The South African Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to an environment that is not harmful to his/her health or well-being. Nevertheless, the Witwatersrand basin – once a site of environmental beauty - has been ravaged by 160 years of gold mining, which has resulted in severe environmental damage in the form of toxic water and air and dust pollution that has not, to date, been addressed. In this context, we sought to ascertain the extent to…
Palestine and the International Criminal Court: Institutional Failure or Bias
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor's selection of 'situations' to investigate is highly controversial. Perhaps the most controversial has been the failure of successive Prosecutors to investigate crimes committed by Israel and Hamas in the course of Operation Cast Lead 2008^2009. Initially, this was justified on the ground that Palestine was not a state. In the author's view, this excuse is no longer valid since the recognition of the st…
Apartheid, International Law, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Apartheid is a loaded term; saturated with history and emotion. It conjures up images and \nmemories of discrimination, oppression, and brutality; indulgence, privilege, and pretension; \nracism, resistance, and, ultimately, emancipation. All of which come to us through \nthe history of apartheid in South Africa. Although prohibited and criminalized by international \nlaw in response to the situation in southern Africa, the concept of apartheid \…
Let’s Work Together: Environmental and Socioeconomic Rights in the Courts
Under apartheid poor (black) people and the environment were viewed as antithetical. Poor communities were forcibly relocated to establish or expand game reserves and a range of militaristic interventions were imposed to 'protect nature', often at the expense of human rights.3 The environment was overwhelmingly associated as the preserve of the (white) middle class and was preoccupied with saving plants and animals. Under the post-apartheid dispe…
Introduction: Climate Change Justice: Narratives, Rights and the Poor
Climate change is one of the central challenges to the future of African countries and their people. Unless concerted efforts are made worldwide in a very short time to reduce emissions, climate change impacts in Africa are likely to be devastating
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentaries, Cases, and Materials
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Commentaries, Cases, and Materials." Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 33(3), pp. 269–270
Conflict Management in an Era of Urbanisation: 20 Years of Housing Rights in the South African Constitutional Court
Over the past 20 years, of the 23 socio-economic rights decisions handed down by the South African Constitutional Court, 15 judgments have related to the s 26 right to adequate housing, making it by far the most litigated socio-economic right. The relative frequency of housing rights cases before the Constitutional Court relates to the intensity of post-apartheid struggles over access to urban and peri-urban land. Analysing the contours and conse…
Closing The Doors of Justice: An Examination of the Constitutional Court’s Approach to Direct Access, 1995–2013
Across the developing world one of the structural mechanisms adopted to facilitate access to courts is enabling direct access to the highest court. Recognising the role that direct access can play to advance access to justice, the South African Constitution allows direct access to the Constitutional Court when it is in the interests of justice. This article fills this gap by evaluating – from a propoor perspective – the court's approach to direct…
Testing the transformative premise of the South African Constitutional Court: A comparison of High Courts, Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court socio-economic rights decisions, 1994–2015
The South African Constitutional Court was established in 1994 to herald a decisive break from the authoritarian apartheid legal order with its largely complicit, overwhelmingly executive-minded and status quo-oriented judiciary. There can be no doubt the court was designed to oversee a project of radical constitutional transformation that included the aims of advancing socio-economic equality and entrenching a new culture of judicial review and …
Power, suffering, and the struggle for dignity: Human Rights Frameworks for Health and Why They Matter
Property rights in court: An Examination of Judicial Attempts to Settle Section 25’s Balancing Act Re Restitution and Expropriation
Section 25 of the South African Constitution – the ‘property clause’ – has recently attracted much popular criticism for being an obstacle to socio-economic transformation efforts. Undoubtedly, the issue of property rights was one of the most disputed topics during the historic negotiations in the run-up to the 1994 political transition in South Africa, and it remains a highly contested subject. Attempting to balance the interests of existing (la…
Property in a time of transition: An examination of perceptions, navigations and constructions of property relations among unlawful occupiers in Johannesburg’s inner city
One of the most enduring legacies of apartheid is the racialised in-access to property for the (black) majority of South Africans. The large unmet demand for accessible and affordable residential property close to work opportunities has resulted in widespread unlawful occupation of inner city buildings, which in the post-apartheid legal order has been shielded by a constitutional prohibition against arbitrary and unjust eviction. Yet, notwithstan…
Forging space for pro-poor change: The use of strategic litigation by the Socio-Economic Rights Institution of South Africa (Seri) to advance equality
VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 132 - 155
Research Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights
Evaluating Transformative Constitutionalism in South Africa: A View from the Mineral Rights Adjudication Looking Glass
Against the backdrop of sustained critique of the South African Constitution, this article undertakes an empirical examination of post-apartheid transformative constitutionalism using the example of mineral rights adjudication. Focusing on a series of emblematic mineral rights cases tackling a range of transformation fault lines and interests, the article explores how the judiciary, as arbiter of transformative constitutionalism, has interpreted …
Water Rights Struggles in Johannesburg and Detroit Revisited: Looking Beyond Courts at the Politics and Power of Rights-Based Legal Mobilization in a Neoliberal Global Order: A ‘Powerpack’ Analysis
Responding to the limits of court-based analyses and top-down position-taking in prevailing legal mobilization scholarship, this article goes beyond the courtroom to explore the value of rights-based legal mobilization from the perspective of those engaged in the campaigns to challenge racialized water disconnection in Johannesburg (2004–9) and Detroit (2014–). Against the backdrop of the ‘losing’ cases of Mazibuko and Lyda, the article finds evi…
Political science (25 works) · Law (23 works) · Human Rights and Development (19 works) · Legal Issues in South Africa (19 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Law (13 works) · Constitution (10 works) · Law and economics (10 works) · Human rights (8 works) · Judicial and Constitutional Studies (6 works)