Question

What were the problems faced in making the South African Constitution? What compromises were made?

Answer 1

1. Certain of the rights which attach to the group in African culture findexpression through individuals, who represent such rights on behalf of the group.The fact that only certain individuals can represent particular rights on behalf ofthe group and that gender plays a role in determining who gets to represent thoserights is significant for the purpose of this study.2. Due in part to the influence of colonial law, some individual rights arerecognized by customary law."3. The very people who endorse the values of African tradition and civiliza-tion have also seen fit to incorporate individual-based, westernized rights and dutiesinto their legal systems, both in the guise of Bills of Rights and through their ratifi-cation of international documents which assert such individual rights. By recogniz-ing rights that inure to the individual rather than the community, and incorporatingthose rights into the legal framework, the leaders of new African governments haveopened themselves and their legal systems up to criticisms based on a western con-cept of law that they often disclaim.