Geoff budlender biography of michael
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14 November 2011
Geoff Budlender Bram Fisher Memorial Lecture
PEOPLE’S POWER AND THE COURTS
Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture, 2011
Geoff Budlender
The topic of my lecture is People’s Power and the Courts. In the mode of all good preachers, I start with a text. In fact I have three:
- The Freedom Charter proclaims: “The People Shall Govern!”
- President Zuma, in his recent address in the National Assembly bidding farewell to Chief Justice Ngcobo and welcoming Chief Justice Mogoeng, said: “The powers conferred on the courts cannot be regarded as superior to the powers resulting from a mandate given by the people in a popular vote.”[1]
- The Constitution says that one of the founding values of the Republic of South Africa is “a multi-party system of democratic government, to ensure accountability, responsiveness and openness”.[2]
The question which I want to ask this evening is whether those three statements have the same meaning – and what are their implications for the role of the courts? The underlying question is this: what is the nature of our democratic dispensation?
Parliament and democracy
One of the possible meanings of our democracy is that it is a system in which everyone has the right to vote in regular, free and fair elections for the Nation
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Faculty of Law
The July 2022 ceremony saw the conferral of two LLD Honoris Causa - on Advocate Geoff Budlender and Sir Franklin Berman. The conferral on each serves to recognise their enormous achievements in the field and practice of Law. While Advocate Budlender is an internationally-awarded human rights defender, Sir Frank Berman is world-renowned for his expertise in international arbitration.
In addition to receiving the honorary doctorate, Sir Frank Berman also delivered the July 2022 Graduation Speech. The full text of his speech is available here.
Sir Frank Berman - words shared by the Dean of Law, Professor Danwood Chirwa, on celebrating this conferral
A graduate of UCT (BA Mathematics 1959 and B Sc 1960), Sir Frank Berman has become one of the most accomplished and distinguished alumni of UCT. Through his illustrious career, he has not only proudly flown the UCT flag high on the international stage, he has also, directly, contributed significantly to increasing alumni engagement with and support to UCT.
Sir Frank’s career reflects the depth of his interest in international law and international dispute resolution, to which growth and development he has contributed immeasurably. Sir Frank developed his interest and experience in international l
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