This month we are highlighting the activities of our faculty members and celebrating some of their achievements.  

Since the last newsletter a total of six faculty members were promoted. They are Caroline Ncube, promoted to Professor, Julie Berg and Andrew Hutchison to Associate Professor, Richard Bradstreet and Afton Titus to Senior Lecturer, and Chris Oxtoby to Senior Research Officer. Their promotions were celebrated, along with the promotions across all faculties,  with a reception hosted by Vice-Chancellor Max Price at Smuts Hall.

Tabeth Masengu, a research officer in the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit, also became the first person from this  faculty to receive funding for a joint doctorate at Ghent University.

Two faculty members, Caroline Ncube and Dee Smythe, recently published books and their accomplishments were celebrated at faculty book launches held on 14 April and 12 May. I also want to congratulate Lauren Kohn and Salona Lutchman, who are the recipient and runner-up respectively of the 2015 Faculty Research Prize. This prize is for the most outstanding article published in a peer-reviewed journal by a lecturer or senior lecturer in the faculty.

This month we also celebrate the achievements of three colleagues, Professors Rashida Manjoo and Hanri Mostert as well as Phindile Ntliziywana.  Read their stories in this newsletter.

I’ve had a fairly busy month of travel as well, including a trip to Australia late last month to give a paper at a conference celebrating the Constitution’s 20^th anniversary at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.  While in Australia I had the privilege of delivering the inaugural Nelson Mandela Lecture at the Victorian Parliament House in Melbourne. Entitled, Mandela’s Legacy: Prospects and Challenges for the South African Constitutional Democracy, the lecture was attended by several members of the foreign diplomatic corps, the South African expatriate community and academics. I also had the chance to meet with law alumni in Australia.

Last week Professor Hugh Corder, Dr. Aninka Claasens and I (representing UCT Law) participated in a conference at Constitution Hill to celebrate the founding of the South African constitution, in which Justices Zac Yacoob and Albie Sachs, Thuli Madonsela, Nicholas Haysom, Leon Wessels, Mac Maharaj and others participated. I also attended the African Law Deans Conference  in Livingstone, Zambia, this past week, a very productive meeting with colleagues from the continent. About a dozen UCT Law faculty as well as most of our research units, have established collaborations with African institutions. It is my intention to build on and expand our research and other collaborations in Africa.

Faculty members were very active in the media in April.

In addition to the impressive achievements of our faculty members, students also did us proud.  Nigel Patel and Melissa Mtolo emerged as this year’s winners of the Kader Asmal Moot Competition, held at the University of the Western Cape. They competed against Stellenbosch University in the final. According to Jean Wilké, a lecturer in the faculty and the moot team’s coach, the judges were impressed by the fact that Nigel and Melissa were respectively second- and third-year students.

From left UWC Law Dean Bernard Martin, Nigel Patel and Melissa Mtolo.

UCT Law Faculty will also be represented at the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition in the Hague later this month. Team UCT Law consists of final year students Vuyisile Ncube, Darryl Scotsman and Isabeau Steytler, who, according to their coach, Dr. Hannah Woolaver, a Senior Lecturer in the faculty, have produced outstanding heads of argument.    In further good news about our students, Relebohile Phoofolo and Siyasanga Hayi, both in their final years will attend the Law Schools Global League Summer School in Chicago in July.

Our students have embarked on a novel drive to raise funds for student bursaries as well as to bolster the Student Crisis Fund.  From 8 May until 8 July all students, staff, alumni, friends of law and any other interested parties are invited to participate in a silent auction.    Auction items include meals hosted by faculty, various weekend and holiday packages, personalized services like massages, signed copies of books authored by faculty members,  as well as VIP tickets for the Galileo Open Air Cinema. For a copy of the auction catalogue and index, as well as details on how to bid, please send an email to uctauction@gmail.com.

The planning committee for the 2016 Reunion is making arrangements for our Reunion Weekend from 14 to 16 October, which promises lots of fun, nostalgia and reconnection.   We will also host a mini-symposium to honour the work of Professor Hugh Corder, who has been a member of the UCT Law Faculty for nearly four decades.  The reunion will include alumni from the graduating classes of 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2015. We are still looking for class representatives for 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1981, 1986 and 2001. As class representative your main obligations will include input into the program and to convince former classmates to join us at the reunion. So please contact Abigail Calata if you see you would like to join your class committee.

On June 6^th I’ll address UCT Law alumni and friends in New York. In my talk entitled Looking Ahead: A Vision for the UCT Law Faculty & Its Impact on South Africa,  I will outline my goals for the faculty. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP for the event here.

Best,

Penelope Andrews

Professor and Dean