The Faculty hosted a bitter-sweet celebration of Dr Vyonna Bondi at its recognition event for our recent research graduates (Master’s and PhD). Dr Bondi’s PhD degree was conferred posthumously at UCT’s Spring Graduation ceremony for Law on Tuesday 9 September. Vyonna sadly passed away in December 2024, having already submitted her thesis for examination. Titled Procedural environmental rights in regional trade agreements: trends, policy drivers and the case for multilateralisation within the World Trade Organization, Dr Bondi’s thesis explores the intersection of international trade and environmental protection through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. 

In her thesis, Bondi examined how these frameworks, established to facilitate fair trade among nations, have been adapted to include environmental considerations. She highlighted Regional Trade Agreements’ role in enabling countries to engage in trade whilst addressing environmental issues and offering exemptions from standard non-discrimination rules. Bondi also investigated the challenges posed by these agreements and how they often lead to conflicting obligations for states. She showed that legal fragmentation complicates implementation of procedural environmental rights essential for ensuring access to information, access to justice and participation in environmental decision-making. Dr Bondi proposed methods for harmonising commitments to creating a coherent international trading system that effectively integrates trade and environmental goals.

Below, Dean of Law Professor Danwood Chirwa shares words about Dr Bondi with the Bondi family. From left: Cynthia Bondi, Mrs Lillian Bondi, and Mr Dan Ogolla Bondi, and Professor Chirwa.

Dr Bondi was supervised in this work by Professor Loretta Feris (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Pretoria). We include below the words shared by Professor Feris at the Faculty celebration event attended by Dr Bondi’s mother, father and sister:

I first met Vyonna nearly a decade ago, when she approached me to undertake a Master of Laws (LLM) under my supervision at the University of Cape Town. A single reading of her proposal confirmed that I was engaging with an exceptionally capable legal scholar. Supervising her LLM proved to be one of the most rewarding and straightforward experiences of my career. I came to know her as diligent, disciplined, and intellectually rigorous; her research was meticulous and her writing elegant.

Several years later, when she asked me to supervise her doctoral work, I agreed immediately. I was eager to continue working with a scholar of her calibre. In my cohort-based supervision model, doctoral candidates meet monthly to circulate draft chapters and provide peer review. Vyonna was an exemplary member of this cohort—consistently engaged, generous in her feedback to colleagues, and unfailingly punctual with her own submissions.

Vyonna’s doctoral research sought to advance the field of trade and environmental law by addressing a practical and pressing challenge: the difficulties African states face when party to multiple regional trade agreements that may impose conflicting legal obligations. She set out to develop a framework for procedural environmental rights capable of being integrated across such agreements. Her project was animated by a commitment to scholarly excellence and to real-world impact in the African region.

Her journey was not without hardship. Health challenges required her to pause her studies at times, and she was forthright about those circumstances while keeping me apprised of her progress. Because I understood how much this PhD meant to her—and the contribution it could make—I arranged with the University of Cape Town to continue as her supervisor even after I moved to the University of Pretoria, where I now serve as Vice‑Principal: Academic.

After a period of medical leave, Vyonna returned to her research with characteristic focus and determination, completing the dissertation, which has been submitted for examination. The intellectual quality of her work speaks for itself.

I deeply regret that she did not live to see the full fruits of her dedication. To Vyonna’s family: you may be profoundly proud of her - of the brilliant lawyer and legal scholar she was, and of the lasting contribution her work will continue to make.

** Dr Vyonna Bondi held an LLB from Mount Kenya University and an LLM in International Trade Law from UCT. An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya since 2019, Dr Bondi began PhD studies that same year. A Legal and Policy Advisor at Prof Albert Mumma & Company Advocates, she specialised in environmental consultancies and legislative drafting. In 2023, she became Commissioner for Oaths and, in 2024, Notary Public, before the posthumous award of her PhD in Law.