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16 January 2024 | Story Valentino Ndaba and Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Sonia Small
Dr Catherine Namakula
According to Dr Catherine Namakula, language-fair trial rights are entrenched as constitutional imperatives in many African countries.

Dr Catherine Namakula is Senior Lecturer of Public Law at the University of the Free State and a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. In her latest book, Fair Trial Rights and Multilingualism in Africa, she incorporates a ‘language-fair trial rights code’ – an amalgamation of 31 principles proven by case law and trial practice as best approaches to ensuring language-fair trial rights.

The code advances the minimum language guarantees for vulnerable participants, especially persons with speech and hearing disabilities, sign language users, accused persons making confessions, and victims of gender-based or sexual violence. Bult discussed her research in more depth with her.

Your research spans multiple jurisdictions in Africa, from the Sahel region to the Horn of Africa and the Cape. What country-specific practices have you found regarding fair trial rights in these regions?

Language-fair trial rights are entrenched as constitutional imperatives in many African countries. They are non-negotiable. Nigerian and Kenyan courts have exceeded rhetoric and lip service to language-fair trial rights and actually declared trials absolute nullities due to lack of comprehension of proceedings by accused persons. Indigenous languages are languages of record in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, and Tanzania.

Rwanda elevates the standard of linguistic competence of an accused to thorough competency, whereas in Lesotho this translates to the mother tongue. In Canada, even jury panellists are subjected to language competency tests, and in South Africa, judges are assigned cases according to their proficiency in the language indicated by the trial participants as the preferred language of trial. Almost all the studied countries express no compromise on the principle that a confession must be recorded in the language used by the person making it.

Multilingualism is a significant challenge in legal processes across Africa. What were some of the most common issues or difficulties related to language that you identified during your research, and how do these impact the fairness of trials?

There is a gap bordering on disconnection between the formal courts and the population they serve – to the extent that legal processes are perceived as elitist and foreign, mainly because of the language question. Trials require unequivocal expressions, whereas African tradition for the most part considers sexual language as pervasive. This constrains the trial and punishment of sexual violence.

Investment in the standardisation of sign languages is limited, making the trial of persons with speech disabilities in their ‘home-made’ languages impracticable. There is heavy reliance on translation and interpreting to propel trials, often leading to resource constraints and recourse to controversial measures, such as engaging police officers as interpreters.

Transplanting African customs from indigenous languages to fit court situations by way of translation leads to loss of meaning and watering down of concepts. African courts battle with evaluating interpretative competency against the backdrop of a lack of training of judicial interpreters on the continent. Measuring linguistic comprehension is an actual challenge for courts, often manifesting in asking people whether they know what they do not know, but this research presents the objective test based on special circumstances advanced by the Supreme Court of Justice of Ontario that would resolve this hurdle.

Your book also mentions the potential applicability of lessons from African jurisdictions to those outside of Africa.

Contrary to popular opinion, the study confirms that African languages are already serving as channels for trials; they are not merely colloquial speech, but carriers of identities and human dignity. They should not be ignored but recognised and promoted. A trial that must proceed in a language that an accused person does not understand is a trial in absentia and the safeguards governing such trials must apply.

As the legal landscape and languages in Africa continue to evolve, what recommendations or measures do you propose to improve existing approaches to ensuring fair trials in multilingual contexts?

Decolonial discourse and reparation to Africa from the legacies of enslavement, colonialism, and apartheid should characterise the rise in esteem of African languages in all spheres of society. The use of intermediaries in Kenya and South Africa to protect and support vulnerable victims – especially children and victims of gender-based violence – in their communication with the courts should be emulated by other countries and extended to persons who are illiterate, in order to mitigate the intimidating sophistication of the courts on our people.

News Archive

Plant-strengthening agent a result of joint effort between UFS and German company
2015-07-27

Research over the past few years has showed that the agent applied mostly as a foliar spray subsequently leads to better seedlings as well as growth and yield enhancement of various crops.

The application of a plant-strengthening agent in the agricultural industry has, until recently, been largely ignored, says Dr Elmarie van der Watt of the Department of Soil, Crop, and Climate Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS). The agent was co-developed by researchers at the UFS and a German company.

The product is moving into new markets, such as China, Vietnam, the USA, and Australia.

ComCat® was the result of extensive research by the German company Agraforum AG. Commercialisation was limited initially to Europe, while research was expanded to other parts of the world, with the University of the Free State as the main research centre.  ComCat® is a unique, non-toxic plant strengthening agent derived from wild plants. It enhances plant growth and yield, as well as resistance against abiotic and biotic stress factors.

Dr Van der Watt says that, in nature, plants communicate and interact by means of allelochemicals (the inherent silent tool of self-protection among plants) and other phytochemicals (chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants), as part of their resistance mechanisms towards biotic and abiotic stress conditions.

Most wild-plant varieties are usually well-adapted to resist these stress factors. However, monoculture crops have lost this ability to a large extent. “Active compounds contained in extracts from wild plants applied to monoculture crops can potentially supply the signal for the latter to activate their dormant resistance mechanisms.” 

Research over the past few years has showed that the agent applied mostly as a foliar spray subsequently leads to better seedlings as well as growth and yield enhancement of various crops.  A major advantage is that, despite its enhancing effects on root development and yield, it does not induce unwanted early vegetative growth that could jeopardise the final yield, as happened in the past for nitrogen application at an early growth stage. 

Dr Van der Watt says, “Physiological data on the effect of the natural bio-stimulant product on photosynthesis, respiration, and resistance towards biotic stress conditions indicate that it can be regarded as a useful tool to manipulate agricultural crops. Research also showed that the field of application for this natural product is never-ending, and new applications are being investigated every day.”

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