centre for applied legal studieslatest news & developments
After being diagnosed with HIV at 33, retired Constitutional Court justice Edwin Cameron never thought he’d make it to 40. He’s now 73 and part of a generation that is growing older thanks to antiretrovirals and, he says, the activism that made sure it was available in South Africa. Photo: Stefan Els
Video

HIV made him expect to die at 40. At 73, Edwin Cameron asks: Who’s planning for our ageing survivors?

At 33, the retired Constitutional Court justice thought he had, maybe, seven years left. His story traces the arc from certain death because of Aids to a chronic, manageable condition at 73. He asks what happens when the generation who fought for life finally get to grow old

  • Eyaaz
14 min read
Many sexual offences are still framed in ways that rest on discriminatory assumptions. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

Discriminatory rape law to be challenged in the Constitutional Court

By centring consent in the definition of rape, the law makes the survivor’s state of mind the battleground instead of focusing on the perpetrator’s actions, including their use of force or coercion

6 min read
The high court in Johannesburg has ruled against JDG Trading. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

Loan company exploited social grant beneficiaries, high court rules

The Johannesburg high court found the company’s product was at odds with the National Credit Act

  • Eyaaz
3 min read
A just energy transition cannot only be good for corporations. It must include workers, the unemployed and young people.

Battle for energy justice: Why we must win social ownership

Electricity must be treated as a public good and a fundamental human right

5 min read
Cecil John Rhodes epitomised the consolidation and expansion of white supremacy, corporate interests and state power.

Put an end to four centuries of corporate plundering of Africa

Companies must be held accountable for their depredations before the next scramble for the continent under the guise of a green transition

8 min read
In the wake of a rise in reported cases of sexual violence in schools, including the allegedly rape of a seven-year-old girl, civil society and government leaders are calling for urgent and systemic reform of how schools protect pupils. (Getty)

We need to rethink ‘intention’ in rape legislation

The inclusion of intention in the definition of rape reintroduces the requirement that there should be physical evidence that the victim was overpowered

  • Eyaaz
8 min read