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14 October 2020 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Flickr Creative Commons
Former Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke
With a legal career spanning several decades, former Deputy Justice Dikgang Moseneke painted a picture of the country's legal and political landscape pre- and post-1994 during a webinar session hosted by the Faculty of Law on 7 October 2020. The webinar discussed his new book, All Rise: A Judicial Memoir. The event attracted staff, students, and members of the public who were keen to hear Moseneke – a member of the team that drafted the country’s interim constitution. 

This is his second book, covering his years on the bench, with particular focus on his 15-year term as a judge in South Africa's Constitutional Court, where he rose to the position of Deputy Chief Justice.

Justice Moseneke said his book talks about the political and legal revolution that took place in 1994 when the country moved from a common law jurisdiction to a constitutional jurisdiction. 

"When the constitution came, it made many remarkable changes, and the first of those was to superimpose the constitution on the law that existed at the time. By making the constitution supreme, the message was clear that everything else would have to fall in line with the values of the constitution, and those values were global values around freedom, democracy, equal worth of people," he said. 

He said his multi-layered book is an account of the country's political and legal transition for young people in South Africa and the rest of the continent. 

An ethical framework for the judicial function

"The first of these is just a historical account. What happened, particularly from 1994 to now. The second thing was to say what kind of transition was necessary from the common law jurisdiction to a constitutional jurisdiction, and what was the tensions that emerged, the competing claims for legitimacy; I make it quite clear that the constitution is the most important source of law that we have set in place since 1994. The third layer is telling tales of how the high courts are working, how magistrates’ courts work, how judges are appointed, how they end their service, what they are permitted to do and not to do, and therefore the ethical framework for the judicial function both at magistracy level and at the level of the high courts."

Justice Moseneke donated copies of the book to the faculty as prizes for academic excellence to senior LLB and LLM students. 

" I hope that having read and studied the themes, many people will accept that it is time for all of our excellent people to rise, to find their voice, to find their entitlement, for instance, to demand accountability, openness, good governance, democratic practice, hard work, honesty, and all those wonderful values which go together with our liberation struggle," he said. 

Listen to the webinar podcast here

News Archive

UFS takes lead in improving quality of training in economics in schools
2006-06-20

The fourth international workshop for trainers in the National Council on Economic Education’s (NCEE) outreach programme for Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East will be presented in Bloemfontein from 18-24 June 2006.

 “Because of the rapid success we achieved in the Free State with similar workshops in Economics education that were presented by the NCEE the past year, we have now invited representatives from education departments and universities of five other provinces to attend the international workshop for trainers,” said Prof Klopper Oosthuizen, lecturer at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Agricultural Economics and initiator of the cooperative agreement with the NCEE.

 The UFS and the Free State Department of Education are the NCEE’s first partners in Africa who received this training.  “The attendance of the five provinces and universities is the first step in the extension of the programme to the rest of the country,” said Prof Oosthuizen. 

 The NCEE is based in the United States of America (USA) and the workshop forms part of the council’s effort to improve the quality of the training of Economics teachers and lecturers across the world. 

 “South Africa is urgently in need of efforts to improve the integration of black people into the market economy.  An understanding of how markets work is one of the pillars of democracy.  Equipping young people with economic understanding and skills will help empower them for responsible roles as individuals and citizens,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

 According to Prof Oosthuizen representatives from the education departments of the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West will also be attending the international workshop for trainers.  Representatives from the Universities of Rhodes, of KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Durban University of Technology as well as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology will also attend the workshop.

 During this workshop teachers and lecturers in Economics will receive certificates. 

 Various subjects will be covered during the workshop such as world trade patterns, cost and benefits of free trade, exchange rates and international finance.  The training will be done by representatives from the NCEE by using methods such as direct instruction and role play.

 The NCEE is also in the process of training teachers and learning facilitators in the Free State in an effort to improve the quality of Economics classes in secondary schools. 

 “A group of 84 teachers and learning facilitators were trained in December 2005, 50 were trained in January 2006 and the last group of 40 will be trained at the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 26 June - 1 July 2006,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

 During this seminar the teachers will be trained in issues such as broad social goals in an economy, economic decision making, government’s role in a market economy and fiscal policy.  The training will also be done by representatives from the NCEE.

 The NCEE has been working together with international partners since 1992 to strengthen their Economics teaching systems.  They have already succeeded in increasing literacy in Economics at schools in the USA and more than 20 East Block countries.  More than 1,5 million learners in the East Block countries have already been served by this initiative.  Since 2004 the NCEE’s focus has moved away from the East Block countries to Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

 “Our future plans include strengthening the growing partnership between the UFS, the Free State Department of Education and the NCEE.  We also want to establish a council and centres for economic education which will serve as an umbrella for our joint efforts,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za 
20 June 2006

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