Page 21 - Law Academic Newsletter 2015

2014 Ismail Mahomed Law Reform Essay Competition Winners
The winners of the annual essay competition promoting legal writing by law students received their prizes valued at over R70 000 during a gala function held in Centurion on Friday 11 September. Hosted by the South African Law Reform Commission in partnership with Juta Law, the competition is named in honour of the late Chief Justice and former Chairperson of the South African Law Reform Commission, Ismail Mahomed.
The winner of the LLB category was Musa Kika from UKZN. His essay was entitled “Assessing the effectiveness of the Public Protector in holding public officials to account with specific reference to the SAPS, SABC and the Nkandla investigations: Towards accountability, responsiveness and openness”. Tamrynne Barnes (SUN) with an essay titled “Consumer Protection through Organic Food Labelling: A Comparison between South Africa and the European Union” and Tamzin Hudson (UNISA) with her essay titled “Terrorism: A Southern African response” were runners-up in the LLB category.
The winner of the LLM category was Sarah Vahed from Stellenbosch University. Her essay was entitled “Protecting the Child in a Pluralist State: Assessing the Practise of Ukuthwala in South Africa”. Nontembeko
Mathe-Ndlazi (UP) was the runner-up in this category with an essay titled “Aspects of debt enforcement under the National Credit Act 34 of 2005”.
Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffery, delivered the keynote address during the event. He noted in his address that the topics covered by the winning essays and the runners-up were particularly relevant to the legal landscape in South Africa today and wished the winners success as the future drafters, interpreters and the defenders of our law.
Juta Law Publishing Manager, Edmund Beerwinkel, took the opportunity to announce a new category in the competition. The late Chief Justice Pius Langa whose efforts at bringing about a transformative justice in South Africa is the first legal personality to be honoured through this new category.
Various book voucher prizes were awarded to the winning law faculties and to the supervisors of the winners as well as a special incentive award to UKZN for the most essays submitted for the 2014 competition.
Wayne Staples and Edmund Beerwinkel with the winners as well as the family of the late Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed.
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