UKZN Academic Presents Paper at International Public Law Conference

Professor Nomthandazo Ntlama.

“The Brewing Tug of War between South Africa’s Chapter 9 Institutions: Public Protector vs the Independent Electoral Commission”, was the title of a paper presented by School of Law academic Professor Nomthandazo Ntlama at the 4th International Public Law Conference at Lisbon in Portugal.

The Conference, organised by the International Association of IT Lawyers in collaboration with Vieira de Almeida and the University Institute of Lisbon, provides a platform for academics, practitioners and consultants to share and exchange ideas on developing issues in public law.

Ntlama’s paper – published in the conference proceedings book titled: Information Ethics and Security:Future of International World Time (2014); International Association of IT Lawyers, ISBN: 10:87-994854-4-3 – highlighted the role of the rule of law in the regulation of state authority.

‘The purpose of the paper was to identify various factors that have the potential to compromise the integrity of constitutional institutions following the release of the Public Protector’s report on the allegations of maladministration against the former Chief Executive Officer of the IEC who subsequently became its Chairperson and has since resigned from the Commission,’ explained Ntlama.

She said the Conference had given her the opportunity to engage with diverse legal scholars from all over the world thus broadening her knowledge generally and academically.

‘Through attending and presenting at conferences, I have grown academically and personally because of the diversity of participants who were from different regions of the international community,’ said Ntlama.

‘They provided insight into the laws of their respective countries and on the lessons to be learned from each other in ensuring the development of the legal principles of each of the respective fields.’

Ntlama is currently working on establishing whether the transformation agenda is designed to weaken the capacity of the judiciary considering the arguments being made against the process. This is co-examined by analysing the impact of SADC’s legal framework in addressing the co-existence of poverty and gender inequality in the region.