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Protection of Indigenous Peoples on the African Continent: Concepts, Position Seeking, and the Interaction of Legal Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Willem van Genugten
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African indigenous peoples confront gross human rights violations, both on the macrolevel of the peoples as a whole, and on the microlevel of the individuals belonging to them. These violations relate to such issues as the right to self-determination; the ownership of land and natural resources, as part of their right to life; the existence of distinct political and economic institutions; discrimination; and lack of access to justice. Taking these and other violations as a starting point, this article focuses on whether the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration),1 as adopted in 2007 by the United Nations General Assembly, might be instrumental in helping to solve these problems.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 104 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 29 - 65
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2010

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References

1 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res. 61/295, annex (Sept. 13, 2007)Google Scholar [hereinafter Declaration].

2 Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.5/2005/WP.3 (Apr. 22, 2005) [hereinafter Working Group Report].

3 Id. at 23.

4 Id.

5 Id. at 23–24.

6 Id. at 27.

7 Id. at 32–33.

8 Id. at 33.

9 Id.

10 Id.

11 Id.

12 Id. at 34.

13 Id.

14 Id. at 36–37.

15 Id. at 37.

16 African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, June 27, 1981, 1520 UNTS 245 (Eng.), 21 ILM 58 (1982)CrossRefGoogle Scholar [hereinafter African Charter].

17 Working Group Report, supra note 2, at 40.

18 Id.

19 Id. (footnote omitted).

20 Id at 41.

21 Id. at 12.

22 Id. at 13.

23 Id.

24 Id.

25 Id.

26 Felix Mukwiza, Ndahinda, Victimization of African Indigenous Peoples: Appraisal of Violations of Collective Rights Under Victimological and International Law Lenses, 14 Int’l J. Minority & Group Rts. 1, 9 (2007)Google Scholar (quoting Patrick, Thornberry, Indigenous Peoples And Human Rights 214 (2002)Google Scholar (footnotes omitted)).

27 See, e.g., Patrick, Molutsi & John, Holm, Democracy In Botswana (1990)Google Scholar; Asbjorn, Eide, Rights of Indigenous Peoples—Achievements in International Law During the Last Quarter of a Century, 2006 Neth. Y.B. Int’l L. 155, 194–96 Google Scholar; Kenneth, Good, The State and Extreme Poverty in Botswana: The San and Destitutes, 37 J. Mod. Afr. Stud., June 1999, at 185 Google Scholar; Willem van, Genugten & Camilo, Perez–Bustillo, The Emerging International Architecture of Indigenous Rights: The Interaction Between Global, Regional, and National Dimensions, 11 Int’l J. Minority & Group Rts. 379, 401–06 (2004)Google Scholar.

28 For an inside view, see Eide, supra note 27.

29 Human Rights Council, Res. 1/2 (June 29, 2006), UN Doc. A/C.3/61/L.18/Rev.1, annex (Nov. 20, 2006), available at http://wvvTv.un.org/documents/ [hereinafter Draft Declaration].

30 Id.

31 UN Doc. A/C.3/61/L.57/Rev.l, para. 2 (Nov. 21, 2006).

32 The quotes are taken from the extensive summaries and reproductions of the debates in the Third Committee’s sixty–first session, fifty–third meeting. UN Doc. GA/SHC/3878 (Nov. 28, 2006).

33 See, e.g., Eide, supra note 27, at 192–96.

34 UN Doc. GA/SHC/3878, supra note 32.

35 Id.

36 Id.

37 AU Doc. Assembly/AU/Dec. 141 (VIII) (Jan. 30, 2007).

38 Advisory Opinion of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 4lst Ordinary Session (May 16–30, 2007), available at http://www.achpr.org/english/Special%20Mechanisms/Indigenous/Advisory%20opinion_eng.pdf [hereinafter Advisory Opinion]. The Commission had asked its Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities for advice on the various concerns expressed by African states about the draft Declaration. It was able to do so, since the Working Group had already presented an extensive report on the issue in 2003. The latter report had been adopted at the 34th Ordinary Session of the Commission in November 2003. It was later authorized for publication by the 4th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, held in January 2005. AU Doc. Assembly/AU/Dec.56 (IV) (Jan. 30–31, 2005).

39 Group of African States, Draft Aide–Mémoire: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (Nov. 9, 2006)Google Scholar, available at http://www.iwgia.org/sw21505.asp [hereinafter Draft Aide–Mémoire]; see also Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: “Draft Aide Memoire” of the African Group: A Brief Commentary (Jan. 16, 2007)Google Scholar, available at id.

40 Draft Aide–Mémoire, supra note 39, para. 2.2.

41 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 10.

42 International Labour Organization, Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (No. 169), Art. 1(a) & (b), June 27, 1989, available at http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/ [hereinafter ILO C. 169]. On defining indigenous peoples, see Anna, Meijknecht, Towards International Personality: The Position of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in International Law 72–76 & passim (2001)Google Scholar; Luis, Rodriguez–Pinero, Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonialism, and International Law 150–72 (2005)Google Scholar.

43 ILO C.169, supra note 42, Art. 1(2).

44 See Max van der, Stoel, Conflictvoorkoming in Europa [Conflict Prevention in Europe], Internationale Spectator, Mar. 1994, at 104 Google Scholar.

45 See the report of the Working Group on its first session, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/2, at 19.

46 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Factsheet: Who Are Indigenous Peoples? (2008)Google Scholar, available at http://www.wipce2008.com/.

47 Working Group Report, supra note 2, at 49.

48 Id.

49 Id. at 49 –50, 72.

50 Id. at 54.

51 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 13; see also Rachel, Murray & Steven, Wheatley, Groups and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’Rights, 25 Hum. Rts. Q. 213 (2003)Google Scholar.

52 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 13.

53 That question is central to the PhD thesis of Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda, which was supervised by the present author at Tilburg University and successfully defended in December 2009. See Felix, Mukwiza Ndahinda, Indigenousness in Africa: A Contested Framework for Empowerment of “Marginalized” Ethno–Cultural Communities (forthcoming 2010)Google Scholar.

54 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 16 (quoting Draft Aide–Memoire, supra note 39, para. 3.1, in a slightly different version from the one cited here).

55 Working Group Report, supra note 2, at 71.

56 Id. at 58.

57 Id.

58 Id.

59 Id.

60 Draft Declaration, supra note 29, Art. 46(1).

61 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 18.

62 East Timor (Port. v. Austl.), 1995 ICJ Rep. 90, para. 29 (June 30).

63 See Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, para. 5, GA Res. 1514 (XV) (Dec. 14, 1960); Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co–operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, GA Res. 2625 (XXV), annex (Oct. 24, 1970); Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa) Notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, 1971 ICJ Rep. 16 (June 21); Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion, 1975 ICJ Rep. 12 (Oct. 16); East Timor, supra note 62; see also Report of the Secretary–General, Universal Realization of the Right of Peoples to Self–Determination, UN Doc. A/62/184 (Aug. 2, 2007); UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination [CERD Comm.], General Comment No. 21: The Right to Self–Determination (Mar. 8, 1996), UN GAOR, 51st Sess., Supp. No. 18, Annex VI, at 125, UN Doc. A/51/18 (1996); Modern Law of Self–Determination (Christian, Tomuschat ed., 1993)Google Scholar; Franck, T. M., Postmodern Tribalism and the Right to Secession , in Peoples and Minorities in International Law 3 Google Scholar ( Catherine, Brölmann, René, Lefeber, & Marjoleine, Zieck eds., 1993)Google Scholar; Jan, Klabbers, The Right to Be Taken Seriously: Self–Determination in International Law, 28 HUM. RTS. Q. 186 (2006)Google Scholar. For reflections on these and other legal and quasi–legal sources, see Antonio, Cassese, Self–Determination of Peoples: A Legal Appraisal (1995)Google Scholar; James, Crawford, The International Law Commission’s Articles on State Responsibility 38, 242, 246–47 (2002)Google Scholar; Alexandraxanthaki, , Indigenous Rights and United Nations Standards: Self–Determination, Culture and Land, Ch. 4 (2007)Google Scholar; Wlllem Van, Genugten, Kees, Homan, Nlco, Schrijver, & Paul De, Waart, The United Nations of the Future: Globalization With A Human Face §4.3 (2006)Google Scholar.

64 Katangese Peoples’ Congress, v. Zaire, Communication No. 75/92, 2000 Afr. Hum. Rts. L. Rep. 72 (ACHPR 1995) Google Scholar, available at http://www.achpr.org/.

65 Id, para. 6.

66 Id., concluding declaration.

67 Antonio, Cassese, International Law 119 (2d ed. 2005)Google Scholar. The moment when internal self–determination might turn into external self–determination (the “tipping point”) is the topic of a PhD thesis in progress at Tilburg University by Simone van den Driest.

68 GA Res. 63/3 (Oct. 8, 2008), adopted by 77–6, with 74 abstentions. The resolution was proposed by Serbia.

69 See in this regard Advisory Council on International Affairs, Advisory Letter [to the Dutch Government]: The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, From Deadlock to Breakthrough? (Sept. 2004), available at http://www.aiv–advies.nl/ContentSuite/upload/aiv/doc/AIV_adv.letter.08(2).pdf. The letter, prepared by a committee chaired by the present author, called upon the Netherlands, which at that moment held the presidency of the European Union, to “use its status as ‘concerned third party’ to launch proposals that are consistent with international law and politically feasible.”

70 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 19.

71 Id., para. 26.

72 Id.

73 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [CERD], Mar. 7, 1966, S. Exec. Doc. No. 95–C (1978), 660 UNTS 195.

74 See CERD, Status of Ratification, Reservations and Declarations (Dec. 3, 2009)Google Scholar, available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/index.htm.

75 CERD, supra note 73, Art. 1(4).

76 General Recommendation No. 14: Definition of Discrimination, para. 2 (Mar. 17, 1993), Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, UN GAOR, 48th Sess., Supp. No. 18, at 115, UN Doc. A/48/18 (1993).

77 Id.

78 CERD Comm., Thematic Discussion on “Special Measures/Affirmative Action” (Aug. 4–5, 2008), available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/discussions.htm (undated announcement by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue); Constance De la, Vega, The Special Measures Mandate of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Race Discrimination: Lessons from the United States and South Africa (U. San Francisco Law Res. Paper No. 2009–08, Jan. 31, 2009)Google Scholar, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1317934. For a critical note on the second meeting, see CERD Comm., 74th Sess., Thematic Discussion on Special Measures (Feb. 20, 2009), available at http://www.ishr.ch/treaty–body–monitor/cerd?task=view. On special measures in relation to UN supervisory work in the broader field of human rights, see UN Sub–Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Working Paper, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/5 (June 3, 1998).

79 Guidelines for the CERD–Specific Document to Be Submitted by States Parties, UN Doc. CERD/C/2007/1 (June 13, 2008).

80 See, e.g., CERD Comm, Concluding Observations: South Africa, UN Doc. CERD/C/ZAF/CO/3, paras. 10, 19 (Oct. 19, 2006)Google Scholar (commenting on Third Periodic Reports of States Parties Due in 2004, Addendum: South Africa, UN Doc. CERD/C/461/Add.3 (May 19, 2005), and referring to the special measures taken by South Africa for the benefit of indigenous peoples, especially in relation to their freedom of movement and their right to participate in decisions affecting them).

81 CERD Comm., General Recommendation No. 23: Indigenous Peoples (Aug. 18, 1997)Google Scholar, Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, UN GAOR, 52d Sess., Supp. No. 18, Ann. V, at 122, UN Doc. A/52/18 (1997).

82 Id, para. 4(c).

83 Draft Aide–Mémoire, supra note 39, para. 7.0.

84 Id.

85 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 34 (quoting African Charter, supra note 16, Art. 21(1)).

86 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 UNTS 171.

87 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23: The Rights of Minorities (Art. 27), UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.5, para. 7 (Apr. 8, 1994)Google Scholar [hereinafter General Comment 23]; see also, e.g., Lansman v. Finland, Communication No. 511/1992 (Oct. 26, 1994), 2 Report of the Human Rights Committee at 66, UN GAOR, 50th Sess., Supp. No. 40, UN Doc. A/50/40 (1995).

88 General Comment 23, supra note 87, para. 6.2.

89 M. Nowak, Comments, in Peoples And Minorities In International Law, supra note 63, at 103, 106 (commenting on Lerner, N., The Evolution of Minority Rights in International Law , in id. at 77)Google Scholar.

90 For a detailed overview, see Eduardo, Ruiz Vleytez, The History of Legal Protection of Minorities In Europe (XVIIth–XXth Centuries) (1999)Google Scholar. See also Lerner, supra note 89.

91 UN Charter Art. 1(2).

92 GA Res. 217C (III) (Dec. 10, 1948), UN GAOR, 3d Sess., Resolutions, at 77, UN Doc. A/810 (1948).

93 Id.

94 Lubicon Lake Band v. Canada, Communication No. 167/1984, para. 32.1, UN Doc. CCPR/C/38/D/167/1984 (Mar. 26, 1990), 2 Report of the Human Rights Committee, Annex IX, at 1, UN GAOR, 45th Sess., Supp. No. 40, UN Doc. A/45/40 (1990). This point of view has been repeated several times, among others in Mahuika v. New Zealand, Communication No. 547/1993, UN Doc. CCPR/C/70/D/547/1993 (Oct. 27, 2000), 2 Report of the Human Rights Committee at 11, UN GAOR, 56th Sess., Supp. No. 40, UN Doc. A/56/40 (2001).

95 See Meijknecht, supra note 42; see also Marianne van de, Bosch & Willem van, Genugten, International Legal Protection of Migrant Workers, National Minorities and Indigenous Peoples—Comparing Underlying Concepts, 9 Int’l J. Minority & Group Rts. 195 (2002)Google Scholar (discussing this and other issues related to the locus standi of minorities and indigenous peoples).

96 Declaration, supra note 1, Art. 46(2).

97 Lovelace v. Canada, Communication No. R.6/24, UN Doc. CCPR/C/13/D/24/1977 (July 30, 1981), 2 Report of the Human Rights Committee, Annex XVIII, at 166, UN GAOR, 36th Sess., Supp. No. 40, UN Doc. A/36/40 (1981).

98 Ramcharan, B. G., Individual, Collective and Group Rights: History, Theory, Practice and Contemporary Evolution, 1 Int’l J. Group Rts. 27, 42 (1993)Google Scholar.

99 Draft Declaration, supra note 29, Art. 5 (virtually unchanged in adopted version).

100 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 40.

101 Id, para. 41.

102 Draft Declaration, supra note 29, Art. 19 (unchanged in adopted version).

103 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 42.

104 Id, para. 43.

105 Southern African Development Community, Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport, Art. 1 (2) (Aug. 14, 2000)Google Scholar, available at http://www.sadc.int/index/browse/page/127, quoted in id.

106 Advisory Opinion, supra note 38, para. 44

107 GA Res. 47/135, annex (Dec. 18, 1992).

108 ILO C.169, supra note 42, Arts. 2(1), 6(1)(b).

109 Declaration, supra note 1, Art. 18.

110 Study of the Problem of Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations, Final Report (Last Part), UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1983/21/Add.8 (Sept. 30, 1983).

111 Id, para. 257.

112 Id, para. 261.

113 Proposed Amendments by the African Group to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Arts. 4, 8(2), 9 (May 8, 2007), available at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/AGDraft0507.pdf.

114 Id, Art. 32(1).

115 Eide, supra note 27, Postscript; Stefania, Errico, The UN General Assembly Adopts the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, ASIL Insight, Oct. 9, 2007 Google Scholar, at http://www.asil.org/insights_2007.cfm.

116 Declaration, supra note 1, pmbl. (emphasis omitted).

117 GARes. 60/1, para. 121 (Sept. 16, 2005).

118 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, pmbl. & para. 5, UN Doc. A/CONF. 157/23 (July 12, 1993).

119 [Netherlands] Advisory Council on International Affairs, Universality of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, para. 11(d) (June 1998)Google Scholar; see also Advisory Council on International Affairs, Universality of Human Rights: Principles, Practice and Prospects, ch. V (Nov. 2008)Google Scholar.

120 UN Doc. A/61/PV.107, at 19 (Sept. 13, 2007). It is often reported that 143 states voted in favor. However, Montenegro reported afterwards that its vote in favor had not been registered. Id.

121 UN Doc. GA/10612 (Sept. 13, 2007).

122 Id.

123 Id.

124 Id.

125 Id.

126 Commission on Human Rights, Report of the 18th Session, para. 105, UN ESCOR, 34th Sess., Supp. No. 8, at 15, UN Doc. E/CN.4/832/Rev.1 (1962) (quoting memorandum of the Office of Legal Affairs, para. 3, UN Doc. E/CN.4/L.610 (1962)).

127 Id. (quoting memorandum, supra note 126, para. 4).

128 See Willem van, Genugten, Rob van, Gestel, Marc, Groenhuijsen, & Rianne, Letschert, Loopholes, Risks and Ambivalences in International Lawmaking The Case of a Framework Convention on Victims ‘Rights, 2006 Neth. Y.B. Int’l L. 109 Google Scholar (applying that notion to victims’ rights).

129 Declaration, supra note 1, Art. 38.

130 Id., Art. 18.

131 UN Doc. GA/10612, supra note 121.

132 Id.

133 Id.

134 Id.

135 Id.

136 Id.

137 Id.

138 Id.

139 Quoted in text at note 102 supra.

140 This will be done by the Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the International Law Association, of which the present author is a member. The committee, chaired by Prof. Siegfried Wiessner, is drafting an extensive expert commentary on the Declaration, to be presented at the ILA biannual meeting in The Hague in 2010. On the customary law character of parts of the Declaration, see James Anaya, S., Indigenous Peoples In International Law (2d ed. 2004)Google Scholar; Siegfried, Wiessner, Indigenous Sovereignty: A Reassessment in Light of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 41 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 1141, 1156 (2008)Google Scholar; Siegfried, Wiessner, Rights and Status of Indigenous Peoples: A Global Comparative and International Legal Analysis, 12 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 57 (1999)Google Scholar; see also Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, S. James Anaya, UN Doc. A/HRC/9/9, ch. 3 (Aug. 11, 2008) [hereinafter Special Rapporteur Report].

141 Cal v. Attorney General, No. 171 (Sup. Ct. Belize Oct. 18, 2007),46ILM 1022(2007) (Conteh, C.J.), available at http://www.elaw.org/node/1620.

142 Id, para. 2.

143 Id, para. 8.

144 Id.

145 Id, para. 130.

146 Id, para. 131.

147 Id.

148 Id, para. 132.

149 Id, para. 133.

150 Saramaka People, v. Suriname, Inter–Am. Ct. H.R. (ser. C) No. 172 (Nov. 28, 2007)Google Scholar, available at http://www.corteidh.or.cr/.

151 Id, para. 2.

152 Id, para. 131.

153 Declaration, supra note 1, Art. 32(2).

154 See, e.g., United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Report on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/51 (Jan. 14, 2009)Google Scholar; see also Special Rapporteur Report, supra note 140.

155 Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Canada, UN Doc. A/HRC/11/17 (Mar. 3, reissued Oct. 5, 2009)Google Scholar.

156 Id, para. 13.

157 Id., Conclusions and/or Recommendations, No. 52.

158 African Charter, supra note 16, Art. 27(1).

159 S. Afr. Const. 1996, §211 (Recognition of Traditional Leadership). Note that the 1996 Constitution speaks of “customary law,” while its 1993 (interim) predecessor still spoke of “indigenous law.” Customary law, however, is meant to include indigenous law, avoiding the need to identify which traditional communities are indigenous and which are not. For other examples of (processes of) constitutional recognition of indigenous peoples, see Working Group Report, supra note 2, at 27–29. On the interaction between traditional customary law and national South African law, as well as international (human rights) law, see Christa, Rautenbach, Some Comments on the Status of Customary Law in Relation to the Bill of Rights, 2003 Stellenbosch L. Rev. 107 Google Scholar; Christa, Rautenbach, Therapeutic Jurisprudence in the Customary Courts of South Africa: Traditional Authority Courts as Therapeutic Agents? 21 S. Apr. J. Hum. Rts. 323 (2005)Google Scholar; see also Bekker, J. C. & Boonzaaier, C. C., Traditional Leadership and Governance, in Introduction To Legal Pluralism In South Africa 113 (Bekker, J. C., Rautenbach, C., & Goolam, N. M. I. eds., 2d ed. 2006)Google Scholar [hereinafter Legal Pluralism].

160 S. Afr. Const. 1996, §39(3) (emphasis added).

161 Koyana, D. S., Bekker, J. C., & Mqeke, R. M., Traditional Authority Courts , in Legal Pluralism, supra note 159, at 131, 146 Google Scholar.

162 S. Afr. Const. 1996, §39(1)(b).

163 Id. §231(4).

164 Id. §§232, 233.

165 Bhe v. Magistrate, Khayelitsha, 2005 (1) SA 580 (CC), [2004] ZACC 17, para. 41.

166 Id., para. 43 (footnote omitted).

167 Id., para. 45 (footnote omitted).

168 Id., para. 163 (Ngcobo, J., dissenting) (quoting S v. Makwanyane, 1995 (3) SA 391, para. 244 (CC) (Langa, D.C.J.)). In more detail, Judge Ngcobo noted in a dissenting opinion:

“[U]buntu . .. expresses itself in umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, describing the significance of group solidarity on survival issues so central to the survival of communities. While it envelops the key values of group solidarity, compassion, respect, human dignity, conformity to basic norms and collective unity, in its fundamental sense it denotes humanity and morality. Its spirit emphasises respect for human dignity, marking a shift from confrontation to conciliation.”. . .Further,. . . “[t] he need for ubuntu expresses the ethos of an instinctive capacity for and enjoyment of love towards our fellow men and women; the joy and the fulfilment involved in recognizing their innate humanity; the reciprocity this generates in interaction within the collective community; the richness of the creative emotions which it engenders and the moral energies which it releases both in the givers and the society which they serve and are served by.”

Id., para. 163 n.28 (quoting Makwanyane, supra, paras. 308, 263 ( Mokgoro, J., & Mohamed, J., respectively)). “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” can literally be translated as “a person is a person through other people.”Google Scholar See MEC for Education: Kwazulu–Natal v. Pillay, 2008 (1) SA 474 (CC), [2007] 2 ZACC 21, para. 53 n.31.

169 Bhe, supra note 165, para. 163 (Ngcobo, J., dissenting).

170 Bhe, para. 46 (Langa, C.J.).

171 Pillay, supra note 168.

172 Id, para. 53.

173 Id, para. 65 (quoting Minister of Home Affairs, v. Fourie, 2006 Google Scholar (1) SA 524 (CC), 2006 (3) BCLR355, para. 60 (CC)).

174 Id. (quoting Fourie, supra note 173, para. 60).

175 Christa, Rautenbach, Willemien du, Plessis, & Gerrit, Pienaar, Is Primogeniture Extinct like the Dodo, or Is There Any Prospect of It Rising from the Ashes? Some Comments on the Evolution of Customary Succession Laws in South Africa, 22 S. Apr. J. Hum. Rts. 99, 117 (2006)Google Scholar.

176 Bhe, supra note 165, para. 77.

177 Id., para. 78.

178 Brian, Z. Tamanaha, Understanding Legal Pluralism: Past to Present, Local to Global, 30 Sydney L. Rev. 375, 384 (2008)Google Scholar, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1010105.

179 Bhe, para. 80 (footnote omitted).

180 Id, para. 81 (quoting Alexkor Ltd v. Richtersveld Community, 2003 (12) BCLR 1301, para. 52 (CC).

181 Id. (quoting Richtersveld, supra note 180, para. 53).

182 Id, para. 82.

183 Id, para. 86.

184 Id, para. 63 (quoting W. Cape Provincial Gov’t: In re DVB Behuising (Pty) Ltd v. N. W. Provincial Gov’t, 2001 (1)SA 500, para. 1 (CC).

185 Id. (quoting T. W. Bennett, A Sourcebook of African Customary Law For Southern Africa 64 (1991)).

186 Id., para. 109.

187 Pillay, supra note 168, para. 153.

188 Id., para. 154.

189 Id., paras. 154–56 (footnote omitted).

190 Id., para. 156.

191 Law of Evidence Amendment Act 45 of 1988 s. 1(1).

192 See, for instance, the dissenting opinion of Judge Ngcobo, Bhe, supra note 165, para. 150 n.10.

193 Id., para. 150.

194 Id., para. 152.

195 Bhe, para. 112 (Langa, C.J.).

196 Id., para. 113.

197 Id., para. 115.

198 Id., para. 116.