Browsing by Subject "succession"

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    Open Access
    Bwanya v Master: A Softening of the Doctrine of Precedent
    (2024) Osman, Fatima
    Bwanya v Master of the High Court [2021] ZACC 51, 2022 (4) BCLR 410 (CC), 2022 (3) SA 250 (CC) provided the Constitutional Court with the opportunity to reconsider its previous judgment of Volks v Robinson [2005] ZACC 2, 2005 (5) BCLR 446 (CC) and its implications for the inheritance rights of opposite-sex partners. The Court in Bwanya, in a much-anticipated decision, declared the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act 27 of 1990 unconstitutional to the extent that the legislation did not provide for partners in a permanent life partnership in which the partners have undertaken reciprocal duties of support. The article argues that while Bwanya may be distinguishable from Volks, it would be an artificial—rather than meaningful—distinction that seeks to avoid a confrontation with Volks. The Bwanya and Volks cases raise the same substantive issue, being the rights of unmarried partners, and the Court should be applauded for confronting the issue directly rather than skirting the issue through superficial distinctions. Unfortunately, the Court’s approach in confronting and departing from Volks without declaring the previous judgment wrong is confusing and unconvincing. The judgment appears to represent a softening of the doctrine of stare decisis and a shift in the Court’s approach regarding the rights of unmarried parties, as legislative intervention in this area is not forthcoming.
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    Open Access
    Thirty years of change in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, South Africa
    (2001) Privett, S D J; Cowling, R M; Taylor, H C
    This study used permanently marked 50 m: sites, surveyed at a 30 year interval, to provide a descriptive account of the temporal change in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. South Africa. Management records were used to examine the role of post-fire age. fire frequency and intensity, as well as biotic interactions (competition from overstorey proteoids and alien plants) in influencing vegetation composition over this time period. The mean similarity in species composition of sites between surveys was 62%, indicating an average of nearly 40% turnover in species over the 30 year period. The main causes of this change included differences resulting from different stages in the post-fire succession as well as the impact of differential fire regimes (especially frequency effects). Competition from serotinous Proteaceae. which proved highly mobile after fire, as well as invasive Australian acacias also impacted on the composition of the vegetation over time. The study demonstrated that fynbos communities are temporally dynamic and that the changes over time in species composition are caused by a variety of processes. The study also provided evidence for the role of temporal diversity in contributing to the high species diversity in fynbos systems.