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Background: Universities, globally, and in South Africa, continue to be confronted with demands for transformation, humanisation of pedagogical practices and to embrace social justice. Aim: In this article, we bring to the surface possibilities of "Ubuntu" pedagogy within a social justice framework. We intersect Collective Fingers Theory and Social Justice Theory to propose the notion of "Ubuntu" pedagogy, which draws from African philosophy of "Ubuntu." We argue that "Ubuntu" pedagogy provides an alternation to the current pedagogies that draw from European theories for teaching and learning in the South African higher education context. We put forward that, "Ubuntu" pedagogy, when embraced with understanding and dignity it deserves, has the potential, firstly, of initiating students from other cultures other than African cultures to the values of "Ubuntu" and, secondly, of reconnecting students with their values and cultures, but it has a capacity to cultivate social justice values of equity, recognition and fair participation amongst students from diverse social backgrounds. Setting: South African Higher Education. Methodology: The authors draw from literature to position the article within "Ubuntu" philosophical framework and social justice lenses. Themes emerging from literature are as follows: Intersection of "Ubuntu" philosophy and social justice, "Ubuntu" pedagogy and transformation in higher education and guiding principles for possible implementation of "Ubuntu" pedagogy. Results: At the intersection of "Ubuntu" pedagogy and social justice, classroom practices are designed to respond to students' cultural competencies and to embrace all linguistic repertoires that students bring to the classroom for learning. Students are treated equally and with dignity and respect regardless of their social backgrounds. Conclusion: We argue that higher education classrooms in post-apartheid South Africa should enable equal access, equity and inclusivity for all students. We therefore recommend "Ubuntu" pedagogy as a culturally and socially just pedagogy for transformative higher education classrooms. This article contributes to the continuing dialogues about transformative pedagogies, decolonisation and social justice in South African higher education.

Transforming the learning experiences of pre-service teachers with disabilities from stigma and social exclusion to experiencing a sense of belonging, is a desirable imperative for learning mediators in the South African Higher Education (SAHE) context. This paper presents a relational content analysis of the concepts, theories and policies, related to effecting transformation in the meaning schemes of pre-service teachers with disabilities and to provide HEIs with inclusive responses to addressing their learning support needs. The theory of perspective transformation, which highlights the process of effecting change in a frame of reference, is applied. The theory expands on three dimensions, including psychological (changes in understanding of the self), convictional (revision of belief systems) and behavioural (changes in lifestyle) with a sound foundation of inclusion aimed at drawing on practices for the prevention of exclusion of the pre-service teacher with disabilities in SAHE spaces. The paper further analyses discourses extracted from Section 47 of the Salamanca Statement, (1994) that build on inclusion artefacts in addressing perspective transformation. The findings in terms of belonging show that affirmations of the discourses, related to an interpersonal connection with others, have the scope to affect pre-service teachers with disabilities' need for a positive regard as a prerequisite to foster the inclusion of individuals within any given relationship. This paper recommends that SAHE institutions embrace an ethos of inclusivity to achieve transformative equity for pre-service teachers with disabilities and offers an inclusive response framework to ensure that they are able to participate, learn and be welcomed as appreciated associates of HEIs.

The right to basic education of a child is a requirement of human dignity. South Africa, through its new dispensation and conformity with human rights laws, is expected to transform and be consistent with the provision of the Constitution of 1996 that promotes and protects the best interest of the child. However, the current standards in a majority of South African schools, particularly in impoverished provinces, has clearly demonstrated the urgent need for rapid fundamental changes. This article provides a review of the constitutional right to basic education with reference to the welfare of the learners in South African schools and raises questions as to whether South Africa is out-of-depth in upholding its constitutional obligation with respect to the right to basic education in the eradication of pit latrines in schools. It argues that the lack of adequate resources in the provisioning of sanitation undermines many of the fundamental rights that are entrenched in the Constitution 1996. An overview of the international conventions and human rights treaties to which South Africa is a signatory is given, showing the country's commitment to protecting and improving the status and welfare of the children. Furthermore, the second section intersects the right to basic education with the best interest of the child as envisaged in South Africa's legal framework. The final section details how despite legislation in place, the existence of pit latrines in schools violates the right to life, health, and dignity of its learners, particularly the right to basic education.

The aim of this paper is to search for possibilities to change the terms and content of conversations on colonial/decolonial human rights education. The content of conversations consists of what we know about human rights. The terms of conversations are the principles, assumptions, and rules of knowing in human rights education. The terms and content are interrelated and continually sustain each other. Decoloniality resists global coloniality of power, ontologies and epistemologies which are consequences of colonisation. It also questions the Eurocentric assumptions and principles which serve as a premise for human rights and human rights education. There is an urgent need to explore pluriversal knowledges of human rights and to problematise the Human of human rights. This is explored through data from Roux's research project "Human rights literacy: quest for meaning." Some thoughts on decolonising human rights education are provided in the conclusion.

The indigenous sub-Saharan African philosophy of "ubuntu" that comes down to the expression: "I am a human being because of being with other human beings", developed over centuries. This philosophy, embodying the notion of deep respect for all human beings, is rooted in a humane inclination towards kindness and sound relationships among all people. Before its adoption as a principle in the South African Interim Constitution of 1993, "ubuntu" had never been referred to, or codified in any statutory format. Since then, however, although not mentioned in the final Constitution of 1996, the humane undertones of the "ubuntu" philosophy have often surfaced in South African jurisprudence, particularly in cases involving citizens' Constitutional right to human dignity (section 10). This paper examines the phenomenon that the actual modern-day practical, day-to-day life in South Africa does not seem to attest to application of the "ubuntu" ideal of maintaining and improving the human condition. After examining a number of possible reasons for this phenomenon, "ubuntugogy" is presented as a possible remedy for this condition. This paper reports on an interdisciplinary analysis involving philosophical, societal, anthropological, legal and pedagogical perspectives. A mixed method research methodology in the form of a social science based interpretive-constructivist qualitative approach combined with a legal approach was followed.

This paper details my efforts as an Indigenous African scholar to indigenize the research process -- from conception to publication -- across three data collection sites in South Africa. To respect the vulnerability and culture of the participants, Zulu and Xhosa cultural values like "hlonipha" (respect) and "ubuntu" (humanness) were incorporated into the research process. This paper also details my reflections on positionality, especially the sense of in-betweenness that came with a fluid sense of belonging and identity while researching my own culture. While there are certain advantages that a cultural insider possesses in terms of access to closed-off and historically oppressed communities, these privileges also come with the added responsibility of portraying these communities with the dignity and respect they deserve. This paper further discusses the pragmatic realities of decolonized research and offers insights and discussion for other indigenous researchers hoping to conduct research in their home communities.

The twentieth century has been characterised by the proliferation of human rights in the discursive practices of the United Nations (Baxi, 1997). In this article, we explore the continual process of rights-based education towards transformative action, and an open and democratic society, as dependent upon the facilitation of human rights literacy in teacher training. Our theoretical framework examines the continual process of moving towards an open and democratic society through the facilitation of human rights literacy, rights-based education and transformative action. We focus specifically on understandings of dignity, equality and freedom, as both rights (legal claims) and values (moral action) across horizontal and vertical applications, considering the internalisation and implementation of dignity, equality and freedom towards transformative action. Our analysis of data stemming from a project funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) entitled "Human Rights Literacy: A quest for meaning", brought student-teachers' understandings into conversation with the proposed theoretical framework. In terms of understandings related to dignity, equality and freedom, participants seemingly understand human rights either as legal interests, or alternatively, as they pertain to values such as caring, "ubuntu", respect, human dignity and equality. Legal understandings primarily focus on the vertical application of the Bill of Rights (RSA, 1996a) and the role of government in this regard, whereas understandings related to the realisation of values tended to focus on the horizontal applications of particularly dignity and equality as the product of the relation between self and other. We conclude the article by linking the analysis and the theoretical framework to education as a humanising practice within human rights as a common language of humanity. In so doing, we argue that human rights literacy and rights-based education transcend knowledge about human rights, moving towards transformative action and caring educational relations premised on freedom, dignity and equality. Finally, recommendations are made regarding human rights and rights-based education as transformative action within the South African context, towards an open and democratic society.

In times of economic uncertainty, questions of the purpose and value of higher education come to the fore. Such questions have particular relevance when directed towards the preparation of professionally qualified graduates who might be expected to contribute to the public good. However, definitions of the public good are contested and the role of higher education is unclear. This interview-based study contributes to the debate by taking a professional capabilities index (PCI) generated in South Africa and interrogating it in the UK context. The PCI is oriented towards poverty reduction and is grounded in the human development and capabilities approach, an agenda to which UK respondents were broadly sympathetic although with differences in emphasis. This article argues that, if we are to move beyond a narrow economic understanding of the public good and a purely instrumental understanding of graduate "attributes", the human development and capabilities approach has much to offer.

In this article, the authors situate and make an argument for a humanising pedagogy in response to the legacy of a dehumanising past in South Africa. They describe the inquiry into a humanising pedagogy by means of mining stories of living and learning in South Africa. The authors explain how the meanings and praxis of a humanising pedagogy unfold as the story of the work unfolds. One result of the work has been a working collection of "Statements of awareness" that are authentic and significant, though still evolving, which frame a humanising pedagogy. (Contains 5 endnotes.)

The generation of a public-good, capabilities-based approach to professional education in South African universities is outlined and proposed as a contribution to wider social transformation. The relevance and importance of understanding what Amartya Sen describes as "capability failure" in the lives of people living in poverty is explored and, following from this, how professionals ought to contribute by virtue of their university education, and hence privilege, to making people's lives go better. The key criterion in developing and evaluating professional education is then how professionals are educated to expand the scope of effective freedoms each person has to lead a life she has reason to value, underpinned at all times with respect for human dignity. The process by which a Professional Capabilities Index (PCI) was generated theoretically and empirically is explained and the argument advanced for the PCI as a practical tool for professional education oriented to improving public services for the poor and, hence, the public good. (Contains 8 notes, 1 figure, and 3 tables.)

The article defends ubuntu against the assault by Enslin and Horsthemke ("Comp Educ" 40(4):545-558, 2004). It challenges claims that the Africanist/Afrocentrist project, in which the philosophy of ubuntu is central, faces numerous problems, involves substantial political, moral, epistemological and educational errors, and should therefore not be the basis for education for democratic citizenship in the South African context. The article finds coincidence between some of the values implicit in ubuntu and some of the values that are enshrined in the constitution of South Africa and that on that basis argues that ubuntu has the potential to serve as a moral theory and a public policy. The educational upshot of this article's argument is that South Africa's educational policy framework not only places a high premium on ubuntu, which it conceives as human dignity, but it also requires the schooling system to promote ubuntu-oriented attributes and dispositions among the learners. The article finds similarities between ubuntu and bildung, whose key advocates, among others was German scholar and intellectual Wilhelm von Humboldt. It argues that it would be ethnocentric, and indeed silly to suggest that the ubuntu ethic of caring and sharing is uniquely African when some of the values which it seeks to promote can also be traced in various Eurasian philosophies.

In South Africa we had an education system that was content-based, inflexible, oppressive, and segregated in terms of disability and race. It was determined by time, calendar and by failing and passing at the end of the year. Learners had to "fit into" a particular kind of system or were integrated into an existing system. A shift is now taking place towards a new, liberating system of education that is Outcomes-Based Education (OBE). OBE is inclusive in terms of disability and race and has a flexible approach to time and progression. Special needs education is a sector where the ravages of apartheid remain most evident. Here, the segregation of learners on the basis of race was extended to incorporate segregation on the basis of disability. Our Constitution (DOE, 1996) serves as the basis of our democratic state, common citizenship, our values and human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedom. The new Ministry of Education had to move away from apartheid education and introduce a new curriculum in the interest of all South Africans. According to the Revised National Curriculum Statements (RNCS), OBE forms the foundation of the curriculum in South Africa (DOE, 2002).

In South Africa there is widespread recognition amongst university educators that the new outcomes-based education (OBE) system can prevent instrumental thinking, particularly in view of OBE's agenda to encourage critical learning. However, what these educators do not necessarily take into account is that many students are not always ready to deal with critical learning because of the apparent persistence of instrumental thinking at some universities in South Africa. Simply put, many students seem to be quite willing to be taught about some of the ends of education, rather than the reasons behind these ends. With this idea of desired student learning in mind, in this article, I argue that it has become necessary to fulfil the promise of democratic justice on the African continent through educating for friendship, rather than perpetuating uncritical modes of learning which could further extend the violation of human dignity on the African continent. Reflecting on several moments in my classroom pedagogy and conversations with colleagues at different universities, I firstly argue that critical learning cannot be blind to prescriptiveness, since students (in this case postgraduate students about to qualify professionally as school teachers) have to be made attentive in some way to the public realm of a democratic post-apartheid South Africa and post-colonial Africa. In short, they have to be taught what it means to be democratically just. Thereafter, I argue that teaching students about democratic justice can entail critical learning and, hence, be non-instrumental, provided that university educators become more responsible educators. Finally, I examine how actions (non-indoctrination, impartiality and deliberation achieved through respect and friendship) can potentially fulfil the democratic justice project, the success of which is so desperately needed on the African content.

The end of the Second World War (WW II) illuminated the new hope of a world order that tumultuously recognised human rights and the inherent dignity of all humans. States now recognise that improved human rights mechanisms and their enjoyment; particularly socio-economic rights, are dynamics consistent with the dignity of humans under international human rights law. However, their observance and promotion are traditionally predicated on the states' discretion. Thus, it is pivotal to have a concerted push towards adopting common measures that put these rights on the frontlines of states' economic blueprints. Civil society organisations in partnership with National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) would play a central role in realising this global effort. This article aims to argue that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) could play a crucial role in fostering resilience within national boundaries and the promotion of socio-economic rights as key indices in reshaping the economic landscape of states in the twenty-first century, especially in states like South Africa and Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equality-inequality is a motif that runs throughout creation as a basic (ontic) feature of reality. There is an ongoing struggle in civil society to achieve and maintain a principled and justifiable balance between equality and inequality (diversity) for the sake of ensuring equity (fairness, evenhandedness) in the populace. The article commences with an overview of how the state (both in South Africa and internationally) has been giving effect to its recognition of this dual principle in its legal-juristic stipulations (in the form of international declarations and national legislation). After proffering a reformational perspective on the innate equality that all human beings possess due to their God-ordained dignity, and on the wide range of diversities among people, an example is given of the unintended consequences that resulted from a particular South African measure to counteract past inequalities and inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diaconate and youth in Afrikaans-speaking Reformed congregations in South Africa. South Africa is characterised by various socio-economic and socio-political challenges (fractures) not easily met (or healed). 'Fractures' refer to social, economic, religious, spatial, ecological, environmental, and economic injustices and other issues. Within this context, the church is confronted with her vocation. The unique vocation of a congregation is that the members become a 'new community' (koinonia) in which they not only care for one another but also develop relationships featuring care for, and mercy and solidarity (diakonia) with the weak, poor, and marginalised in society. Several researchers prove that the current South African youth could be classified as vulnerable and marginalised. Since the church does not preach the gospel in a vacuum but in relation to specific human realities, the theme of the youth and diaconate in the Afrikaans-speaking Reformed churches in South Africa is examined in this study, based on Osmer's Practical Theological Interpretation. Interdisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The interdisciplinary nature of this contribution is spread across the two fields of youth ministry and diaconate. The sub-disciplines of both the youth in general, and youth ministry and youth work within the academic discourse of the diaconate are studied, specifically in the Afrikaans-speaking Reformed denomination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing popularity of direct-to-consumer genetic testing, there is minimal South African literature on the topic. The limited available research suggests that direct-to-consumer genetic testing is unregulated. However, we suggest that direct-to-consumer genetic testing is indeed regulated, and unusually so. The first step in the process - the collection of a saliva sample by consumers themselves - is unlawful on a plain reading of the National Health Act 61 of 2003 and the Regulations Relating to the Use of Human Biological Material. This is because these statutes require that certain healthcare professionals must remove saliva for genetic testing. Yet, on closer analysis, such an apparent ban on the self-collection of saliva is neither aligned with a purposive interpretation of the relevant legislation, nor would it survive constitutional scrutiny - as it impedes an individual's autonomy. It is concluded that, contrary to a plain reading of the relevant statutes, individuals can lawfully collect their own saliva for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. To provide legal clarity we recommend that the relevant provisions of the National Health Act 61 of 2003 and the Regulations Relating to the Use of Human Biological Material be amended to allow individuals to collect their own saliva samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to religion is well protected in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) as well as attendant legislation. Section 15(1) of the Constitution provides that all persons have the right to freedom of religion. Section 31(1) of the Constitution then goes on to state that persons who belong to a religious community, amongst others, may not be denied the right to practise their religion with other members of that community. Section 9(3) of the Constitution prohibits the state from unfairly discriminating against any person directly or indirectly on several grounds, which include the ground of religion. Section 9(4) of the Constitution on the other hand prohibits any person from unfairly discriminating against any other person on the ground of religion, amongst others. These constitutional protections resonate in both the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 and the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998. Despite these protections, the right to freedom of religion is still a contested subject in the workplace, inter alia. The contestation intensifies when the right to freedom of religion results in an employee not being able to comply with one or more of the employer's workplace needs. Employers' who do not understand the balance that has to be struck between the employee's right to freedom of religion and its workplace needs will often find themselves on the wrong side of our labour laws if they dismiss an employee without having due regard to the employee's religion. This is what transpired in TDF Network Africa (Pty) Ltd v Faris 2019 40 ILJ 326 (LAC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The constitutional right to privacy is enshrined in section 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It is premised on the notion that all persons should be protected from intrusions on their privacy by any person or institution. The Constitutional Court has also, on numerous occasions, held that the right to privacy is bolstered by its connection with the right to human dignity. It is undeniable that every person's right to privacy should be protected. However, a person's right to privacy is violated when police officials conduct warrantless search and seizure operations. Generally section 22 of the Criminal Procedure Act provides for warrantless search and seizure operations when a police official has a reasonable suspicion that a search warrant will be issued to him and that a delay in obtaining such a warrant would defeat the object of the search. Warrantless searches are important for the prevention of crime, but recent case law has suggested that there has been a progressive shift towards protecting the right to privacy of the individual subjected to warrantless searches, since there are a number of laws besides section 22 that regulate warrantless searches and which have been declared to be constitutionally invalid. This article seeks to demonstrate that the current regulatory framework for warrantless searches should be reviewed in order to protect the legitimacy of the police as well as the dignity and privacy of the citizens of South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The image of God has been vandalised by racism in South Africa, which it is argued is a sin. It is an ecclesiological responsibility to address the vandalised image of God in South Africa. The author will argue from the human relationship as a build-up to the Theanthropocosmic principle. This principle denotes the relationship between God (theos) the human being (anthropos) and the physical-organic environment (cosmos). For addressing this responsibility, the grounds of internal racism are exposed using a philosophical interpretation. According to the author, there is a correlation between sin and racism. The latter is viewed as multidimensional from a Theanthropocosmic perspective. The theoretical framework will be within hamartiology and soteriology. The philosophical interpretation will be utilised to broaden the understanding of the theological problem of the vandalised image of God. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proffers a critical appraisal of South Africa’s constitutional perspective of the right to human dignity, fundamentally considerate of past injustices, upon which the post-1994 dispensation’s natural socio-political obligations are predicated. The article reaffirms the strength found in the notion of human dignity as an essential doctrine and yardstick in the interpretation, application, enforcement and development of human rights and the wellbeing of humans in general. However, it stresses that redressing the past injustices requires going beyond the constitutionally entrenched norms. That, the struggle against apartheid was predominantly predicated on restoring dignity among the oppressed proletariat, achieving a better life, and not about producing the so called ‘best constitution’ in the world. That is, the rights narrative which does nothing to foster a social commitment and humanitarian progress is fundamentally hollow, and thus will not deliver the dream of a better life for all. It is however asserted that South Africa has succeeded in embedding the strong norms at the bedrock of the social and legal systems. Nonetheless, these norms have not meaningfully infused into social realities towards realising human wellbeing. This has been and continues to be hampered by lack of political commitment by state functionaries, and somewhat wrong choice in policy directives, exacerbated by external influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the need to focus on the dignity of human participants as a legal and ethical basis for providing post-trial access to healthcare. Debate about post-trial benefits has mostly focused on access to products or interventions proven to be effective in clinical trials. However, such access may be modelled on a broad fair benefits framework that emphasises both collateral benefits and interventional products of research, instead of prescribed post-trial access alone (Legal and ethical regulation of biomedical research in developing countries p. 134, 2016). The wording of the current version of the Declaration of Helsinki could in fact be interpreted to broaden the scope to include other collateral benefits by applying such a broad fair benefits framework. We argue that this possibility should be utilised by low and middle income countries' (LMICs) health research ethics committees (RECs) in order to ensure that research participants who enrol in clinical trials so as to receive medical care continue to access care after the trial is concluded, as befits their dignity. Although each LMIC has unique concerns, nonetheless there are common challenges based especially on emerging issues, such as post-trial access to healthcare. Accordingly, the South African perspective is used to draw lessons that can benefit other LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Human Dignity: Lodestar for Equality in South Africa, Justice Laurie Ackermann, one of the 11 judges appointed to the South African Constitutional Court after the end of apartheid, presents the most extensive examination yet of the connection between human dignity, equality and the prohibition of ‘unfair discrimination’ under the South African Constitution. This article focuses on one of Ackermann’s central assumptions: that a deeper understanding of human dignity can provide South African courts with clear guidance in identifying unfair discrimination. I argue that human dignity cannot offer this type of guidance. Instead, I contend that the search for guidance should begin with a closer examination of the Constitutional Court’s reasoning in its unfair discrimination decisions. I proceed to develop a novel understanding of the Court’s reasoning which, I argue, offers a surer route to the guidance that Ackermann seeks and indicates where his important appeals for transparent, rigorous judicial reasoning are best directed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contemporary South Africa remains a divided country. Interracial tension still characterises much of the public discourse. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's vision of a harmonious Rainbow Nation has not yet been realised. One question emerging out of this context concerns the ways in which white South Africans could or could not relate with integrity to black concerns. African Indigenous Christianity remains one aspect of the black social context which is largely unfamiliar to whites. In the interest of nation building there is a strong incentive for increased awareness regarding the lives of others across the various dividing barriers. However, due to the unequal nature of past intercultural interactions, bridging this gap is not easy. This article argues that cross-cultural research could be done to the promotion of human dignity if the research process forms part of a process of hybridisation or transformation of the researcher towards an appreciation of human dignity as shared humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments in South African labour legislation since the inception of the new democracy indicate serious attempts by the legislators to protect the interests of employees. The Bill of Rights has, concurrently, enshrined a variety of fundamental rights that, in principle, offer protection in the workplace. Despite this established, protective legal framework, South African schools regularly witness incidents where fundamental rights of educators are infringed. Numerous educators are currently convinced that their rights are put second to the rights of learners, even in cases of physical or psychological violence against them. Where ineffective enforcement of legislation by the state occurs, educators' security is undermined. This article explores various ways of compelling the employer to enforce existing legislation effectively against learner delinquency that may impact on the security of a specific group of educators. The basic claim of the article is that industrial action by educators in the form of localised strikes is feasible, provided that all other remedies have been exhausted. It is concluded that justice should be visibly reinstated by the state as employer, in all cases where educators' right to security are violated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores how the doctrine of the Resurrection informs theological reflection on reconciliation in post-Apartheid South Africa. It begins by establishing the fragile and liminal state of reconciliation, despite the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It then argues that the Resurrection offers an ecstatic and relational understanding of the human, which in turn provides a basis for advancing claims regarding human dignity and well-being. In conversation with the work of Oliver O'Donovan and James Alison on the Resurrection, this view is further contextualized by incorporating insights from ubuntu and from the work of Judith Butler on grieving. The essay closes with proposals for how the church in post-Apartheid South Africa can give witness to the Resurrection in its immediate life and work through advocacy and carrying on the politics of grieving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes as its point of departure the opinion that the political reconciliation that led to the establishment of democracy in South Africa was not accompanied by an equivalent reconciliation in the social and especially the cultural spheres of our society. This unfinished business is creating increased levels of tension on various levels of the social life in the South African nation, such as the vexing language question, education, conflicting interpretations of our history, place names, land reform, etc. In the sphere of music -- especially in respect of school curricula, the public media and the allocation of funding -- such conflict is also noticeable. In order to investigate the contribution that could be made by music towards the resolution of conflict resulting from cultural diversity, it is linked to the concept of human dignity. It is argued that the capacity for music, which is a universal characteristic of homo sapiens, leads to one of the forms of symbolic thinking by which humans articulate their dignity. Humans express their humanness by means of music (and, of course, language) and thus also their dignity. I am able to recognise the dignity of the other in his/her music. Drawing on ideas advanced by contemporary ecumenical theology, it is subsequently proposed that musical diversity can be addressed only by taking on an attitude of self-criticism. It is about the imperative of accepting the aesthetic views of the other without sacrificing one's own. From a position of self-criticism it becomes possible to recognise everyone's right to choose a particular musical identity while at the same time allowing the various musical styles to be subjected to critique. A musical (and intellectual) middle ground is then called for where various musical styles can interact with each other without necessarily giving up their particular aesthetic paradigms. Finally, the tension between musical diversity and democracy is thematised. It is argued that democracy provides the best framework within which musical diversity, as it is discussed in the article, can be accommodated. If cultural reconciliation is not achieved in South Africa, the delicate accord that was reached on the political level in 1994 could be in danger of unravelling. Reconciling musical diversity could provide an important model for such broader cultural reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A human rights discourse has been central to both the anti-apartheid struggle of South Africa and the country's post-apartheid transformation. But in the drive to extend constitutionally mandated social and economic rights to all South Africans, the approach has had shortcomings. The current neo-liberal economic policy framework constrains policy choices and, in some instances, restricts fair adjudication of rights by the courts. The revival of notions of African Renaissance and indigenous ethnophilosophies, notablyubuntu, which shares the primacy of human dignity of a rights discourse, offers new perspectives. This article looks at the limitations of the human rights discourse and at howubuntu,as a principled basis for judicial decision making, can contribute to the evolution of the rights discourse in South Africa and lead towards greater realisation of constitutional rights for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key objectives of the South African constitution is to create a sovereign democratic state founded upon human dignity. The South African Constitutional Court relies mainly on the classical, liberal view of human dignity to give judicial content to the constitutional value of human dignity. This article compares the South African constitutional concept of human dignity with a Reformed-Christian perspective. It identifies shortcomings in the South African constitutional understanding of human dignity, and indicates how a Christian perspective on human dignity offers a more philosophical and judical substance to human dignity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In all states, power rests ultimately on the ability to take the life of another. In South Africa, democratization, with its promise of ‘a better life for all’, has been accompanied by an epidemic of AIDS, which has inflicted mass death on the citizens of this democracy. This article urges us to pose questions about the meaning of our democracy – and in particular the democratic right to life, along with the obligations associated with that right – in the light of the experience of AIDS. These questions have a particular urgency in the South African case, but they are pertinent globally, in asking us to think about how the global epidemic of AIDS affects the way we understand the rights and obligations of democratic citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WHO in 2019 established the Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing, which has recently published a Draft Governance Framework on Human Genome Editing. Although the Draft Framework is a good point of departure, there are four areas of concern: first, it does not sufficiently address issues related to establishing safety and efficacy. Second, issues that are a source of tension between global standard setting and state sovereignty need to be addressed in a more nuanced fashion. Third, it fails to meaningfully engage with the extent to which the conceptualisation of human dignity may justifiably vary between jurisdictions. Fourth, the meaning of harm to the interests of a future person requires clarity. Provided these four areas of concern can be addressed, the future of the global governance of human genome editing may hold promise., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)