S v. Banda and Others

Abstract

States — Statehood — Recognition — South African ‘Bantustan’ policy — Bophuthatswana — Whether an independent State in international law — Recognition — Whether Bophuthatswana possesses attributes of a State — Population — Territory — Government — Capacity to enter into foreign relations — Whether entity which is not recognized by other States can be said to possess such capacity — Treason — Whether treason may only be committed against a sovereign State — Whether possible to commit treason against Bophuthatswana

Recognition — States — Legal effects — Whether recognition constitutive or declaratory — Policy of non-recognition — South African ‘Bantustans’ — Resolutions of United Nations Security Council and General Assembly calling upon States not to recognize Bantustans as independent States — Legal effects of resolutions

Territory — Sovereignty — Nature of territorial sovereignty — Right of State to cede part of its territory for creation of a new State — Self-determination — Requirement that there be a free expression of the will of a people — South African ‘Bantustan’ policy — Whether South African grant of independence to Bophuthatswana involved violation of the principle of self-determination

Relationship of international law and municipal law — Customary international law — Law of Bophuthatswana — Whether customary international law part of the law of Bophuthatswana — Whether Bophuthatswana municipal law prevails over international law before municipal courts of Bophuthatswana

International organizations — United Nations — General Assembly — Security Council — Effects of resolutions — Resolutions calling on States not to recognize ‘Bantustans’ granted independence by South Africa — Whether effective to deny statehood — The law of Bophuthatswana