The Centre for Constitutional Development conducts and publishes Sakeliga’s cutting-edge research on constitutionalism and the changing constitutional and legislative environment.
South Africa’s economic and commercial environment is threatened by state organs that increasingly do not recognise or heed constitutional limitations on their scope or power.
Sakeliga monitors the manifestations of this phenomenon in policy and legislative instruments, and develops innovative answers drawing on the centuries of theoretical development in constitutional thought.
Constitutionalism, the notion that government institutions must be kept within their proper role and not interfere in or obstruct the healthy and natural course of social development, informs Sakeliga’s approach.
The Centre’s activities
Interpretation: Developing a framework for the evaluation of legislative and constitutional change and interpretation of such changes in light of economically significant events in the legal arena.
Policy monitoring and analysis: Monitoring legislation and regulation, influencing positive legal reform insofar as possible, and providing clarity to the business community on how to lessen the deleterious impact of bad policy.
Litigation: Identification and assistance in constitutional litigation that creates greater freedom for entrepreneurs and communities, and that limits or eliminates economic harm that results from bad policy.
Advisory board and legal network: Developing a network of legal practitioners, jurists, and litigants from whom the Centre can draw insights, contributions, and experience, and among whom the Centre can advance Sakeliga’s normative and strategic approach to jurisprudence.
Constitutional development: Research and development of legal mechanisms and constitutional authority that can enhance the independence of Sakeliga’s economic networks in particular and the business community in general.