Covid-19’s potentially devastating impact motivated unrivalled global efforts to develop vaccines, which the World Health Organization (WHO) identified as the most effective protection against the disease. Although largely viewed positively, there has been notable mistrust and hesitancy due to concerns about health-related risks associated with Covid-19 vaccines. This has raised questions in the employment context as some employers have quickly moved towards making vaccines mandatory.

The recent appointment of Raymond Zondo as the new Chief Justice of South Africa’s Constitutional Court generated much debate centred on his qualifications, experience and suitability. Against this background, it is opportune to review the selection procedure of superior court judges, particularly in the African context.

When it comes to assessing the legacy of the Zondo Commission in South Africa, what might success look like?

Commissions of inquiry have featured strongly in democratic South Africa, and many have been tasked with a truth-seeking mandate in relation to issues with profound political significance.

Russia’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine has been recognised as an international armed conflict, drawing near-universal condemnation as an infringement of international law. States are, therefore, making a tremendous combined effort to prevent further escalation of the humanitarian crisis.

Even a cursory reading of the published parts of the report of the Zondo Commission leaves no doubt that public procurement was at the heart of state capture in South Africa.

An analysis of the Ugandan Parliament’s latest attempt to further criminalise consensual same-sex relations reveals the shortfalls of the Sexual Offences Bill, 2019.

Amidst heated debates over the criminalisation of homosexual relationships, Ghana’s parliament is considering passing a Bill entitled the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values of 2021 (“Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill”). The Bill, if passed into law, will usher Ghana into another wave of criminalising homosexual conduct.

In “Fundamental Rights and the Legal Obligations of Business”, David Bilchitz considers how to improve the global framework surrounding corporate obligations to ensure greater guidance on the content of these obligations as well as better decision-making both within corporations and national institutions. ALM caught up with Prof Bilchitz to ask him more about his new book.

A snapshot of women’s political participation in The Gambia shows that there is an urgent need to adopt special measures to increase women’s access to political participation.

In “Re-Invigorating Ubuntu Through Water”, Ndjodi Ndeunyema argues for the existence of a court enforceable human right to water that is implied from the right to life in Article 6 of the Namibian Constitution.

Ndjodi Ndeunyema’s book “Re-Invigorating Ubuntu Through Water” is the lawyer’s version of the aphorism that “water is life”.

Through an unprecedented voter turnout, the Zambian people recently united to oust an authoritarian regime — overcoming the odds in an election that is surely a bright spot for democracy on the continent.

In the 25 years since the South African Constitution was signed into law, what progress have we made — and what will it take to attain the constitutional vision of a free, equal and dignified life for all?