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UCT Research Report '11
160
requires) the use of race when addressing the “effects
of past unfair discrimination or when addressing the
lingering effects of racial discrimination and racism”, he
pointed out.
The Constitutional Court understands the need for race-
based corrective measures, but also appreciates that
there are limits to such corrective measures. And that
redress can be a win-lose thing, where one group
benefits at the expense of another.
But while race-based measures of redress are
required to address the effects of past and ongoing
Land Reform and Democracy
in South Africa
Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza holds
theDST/NRFResearchChair inLand
Reform and Democracy in South
Africa. He has conducted extensive
research on the land question in
South Africa, specifically on land
rights, democratisation, rural local
government, traditional authorities,
and land and agrarian movements. Professor Ntsebeza
has published Democracy Compromised: Chiefs and
the Politics of Land in South Africa (Brill Academic
Publishers, Leiden in 2005 and the HSRC Press in
2006). He has also co-edited The Land Question in
South Africa: the Challenge of Transformation and
Redistribution (HSRC Press, 2007, with Ruth Hall), and
Rural Resistance in South Africa: The Mpondo Revolts
after fifty years (Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden,
2011 and UCT Press, 2012, with Thembela Kepe).
His current research interests, apart from land and
agrarian questions, include an investigation of African
Studies at UCT and a related project on the political
and intellectual history of the late Archie Mafeje.
Security and Justice
Professor Clifford Shearing is the
Chair of Criminology and Director of
the Centre of Criminology, Faculty
of Law. He holds the SARChI Chair
in Security and Justice and is an
National Research Foundation
A-ratedscholar. ProfessorShearing’s
research and writing has focused on
the development of theoretical understandings that can
be used to enhance the quality of security and justice.
A particular focus of his work has been contributing
to the development of institutions and processes that
enhance the ability of collectivities to both direct and
add value to their security and justice. In addition
to his established areas of research in the area of
security governance, he is exploring the governance
of environmental security.
Customary Law
Chuma Himonga is Professor of
Law in the Department of Private
Law and holds the SARChI Chair
in Customary Law. She has an LLB
from the University of Zambia, as
well as a master’s degree in Law
and PhD, both from the University
of London. Her research interests
are in the areas of customary law; family law, including
comparative African family law in Southern Africa;
legal pluralism; women’s and children’s rights, and
human rights. Working on Zambian law, she has
helped to produce socio-legal research on the effects
of family law on family members, especially women
and children. The award of the SARChI Chair in
Customary Law has given Professor Himonga the
unique opportunity to engage deeply with what has
become her life’s work and passion of furthering the
development and understanding of customary law
regimes that shape and influence the lives of millions
of people in Southern African contexts, as well as
contributing to the development of a critical African
worldview aimed at grounding research and writing in
law in African realities.
DST/NRF SARChI
Chairs associated with this theme
racism and racial discrimination, this must be done by
having “regard to South Africa’s past”, a past that not
all South Africans always see in the same light. A little
more finesse, more nuance, is also required when
dealing with the country’s history, argues Professor
De Vos.
“Neither attempting to sweep the past racism and
racial discrimination, and its ongoing manifestations
and effects, which continue to haunt our country,
under the carpet; nor reducing or simplifying the story
of our past to one in which human beings only existed
as markers for their racial identities.”