“The law is but one building block towards realising social justice and the Centre for Social Justice is a vehicle to help coordinate the efforts of lawyers, academics, activists and community organisations towards realising this goal.” – Thuli Madonsela
South Africa (23 October 2022) – The Chair in Social Justice in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University (SU) has transitioned into a Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) with Prof. Thuli Madonsela as its inaugural director.
The launch of the CSJ was made public at the 3rd International Social Justice Conference on 11 October, on the eve of the 4th Social Justice Summit.
In announcing Madonsela as the inaugural director, the dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Nicola Smit, said the mission of the CSJ would be to promote “social justice scholarship and consciousness as well as public policy design skills and collaboration, in both academia and society”. She added that the CSJ and its mission formed part of the University’s pursuit of its restitution statement.
SU’s new Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies, Prof. Sibusiso Moyo, explained the alignment between the CSJ and the University’s strategic outlook. She said the CSJ flowed from the University’s “Social justice and development” strategic research area and was in line with the “Research for impact” strategic theme in SU’s overall plan. As such, the establishment of the CSJ ties in with SU’s efforts to continue to create academic spaces and research-and-innovation partnerships that offer solutions to the pressing challenges of our country and continent, while being a force for positive change to advance social justice.
Madonsela expressed her gratitude to her team, the student social justice ambassadors, the University, the Law Trust Chair and its funders, members of the Council of Social Justice Champions, as well as the Rectorate led by Prof. Wim de Villiers, all of whom were the wind beneath the wings of the Law Trust Chair’s social justice initiatives, including walks, summits and conferences. She further thanked all stakeholders who were journeying with her and her team in their quest to accelerate the pace of responding to the constitutional call to establish a peaceful society based on social justice and where every citizen’s life is improved and everyone’s potential freed.
Wants to be a partner of choice
The CSJ’s vision is to be “a partner of choice in social justice research, public policy design, training and education, and the monitoring and evaluation of social justice initiatives, to accelerate reform”.
According to Madonsela, the CSJ’s flagship project would be the Musa Plan for Social Justice, which aims to mobilise societal, corporate and international support and resources towards the accelerated reduction of poverty and inequality. The four key result areas of the Musa Plan are:
- attuning law reform and policy/programme design to social justice outcomes by leveraging data science and adequately disaggregated data to avoid laws, policies and programmes that exacerbate inequality and poverty;
- fostering social accountability and cohesion, primarily through legal and constitutional literacy as well as bridge-building dialogue platforms;
- contributing to the state’s capacity for constitutionally attuned and ethical governance and leadership; and
- leveraging civil-society resources to fund initiatives that aim to accelerate the ending of poverty and break the back of structural inequality by 2030.
The Centre will house all academic programmes and social impact projects currently undertaken by the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice.
“It will also be the entity through which all future academic scholarship and social impact projects of the Law Trust Chair are undertaken,” said Madonsela.
Inspirational video messages by SU Chancellor Justice Edwin Cameron and Chief Operating Officer Prof. Stan du Plessis were played, expressing their support for the CSJ. Together with Nicky Newton-King, a corporate finance and securities regulation lawyer, former chief executive of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and current SU Council member, they were instrumental in driving the establishment of the CSJ. They are also members of the Council of Social Justice Champions, which serves as an advisory body to, and network of champions for the CSJ’s work.
Cameron said he was proud of the interdisciplinary impact that Madonsela was making and expressed his unequivocal support for her vision. Du Plessis, in turn, reminded the audience that the University’s vision included the aspiration to advance knowledge in service of society.
“That is why I applaud the SU Law Faculty and the Social Justice Chair, Prof. Thuli Madonsela, on the establishment of the Centre,” he said.
“The Centre will conduct research, especially in the very difficult field of policy design, training and stakeholder management, to help all South Africans find dignity, justice and a decent life. As Prof. Thuli has said on many occasions: As long as there is injustice somewhere, there can’t be sustainable peace anywhere.”
Collaborative entity
At its core, the CSJ will be a collaborative entity, both in its academic and social impact initiatives, said Smit.
“The Centre is an academic and research entity that resides in the Faculty of Law, but its constitution explicitly acknowledges the importance of working with the different faculties of the University, other higher education institutions, and public and private as well as local and international enterprises and stakeholders.
“The law is but one building block towards realising social justice,” she added, “and the CSJ is a vehicle to help coordinate the efforts of lawyers, academics, activists and community organisations towards realising this goal.”
Collaboration also featured strongly in the addresses of both Profs Moyo and Madonsela. Prof. Moyo emphasised the central role of interdisciplinary partnerships for impactful academic research and was particularly pleased that the CSJ’s work would incorporate the efforts of data scientists and engineers to improve policy outcomes.
The launch of the CSJ preceded the 2022 Social Justice Summit. This year’s summit focused on the theme of restitution and explored the past and present roles of business, the media and individuals in various dimensions of social justice and human rights. A separate statement in this regard will follow shortly.
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