Constitutions Culture and Communities in Africa

  TOWARDS A VIABLE FRAMEWORK FOR INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE PROTECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: RESOLVING THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS AMENDMENT ACT 2013 AND THE PROTECTION PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE ACT 2019   ES Nwauche (Prof) The recent Call for Comments (CFC) by South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) to the general public to submit written or representations in respect of Regulations Relating to the Protection Promotion Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge (The Regulations) made pursuant to section 31(1) of the Protection Promotion Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act . 2019 ( PPDMIK Act ) ended on 14 January 2023, three months. Even though the DSI is to be commended for The Regulations as a step towards the commencement of the PDMIK Act and its application, it is even more critical that the South African parliament address the conflict between the PPDMIK Act and the Intellectual Pro...

  PRIOR CONSULTATION AND CONSENT AS NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR COMPULSORY ACQUISITION OF COMMUNAL LAND IN BOTSWANA- THE GA-MATELE TRIBE AND FOREST HILL ES Nwauche (Prof) The nature of the title held by indigenous African communities over their communal land tenure has appeared tenuous and at the mercy of the State that could, in the exercise of its eminent domain, expropriate such property and, at best, be liable to pay constitutionally sanctioned compensation. The requirement that such expropriation requires the consent of the indigenous community appeared far-fetched in many African countries. Botswana is an outlier and reformed her communal land tenure through legislative schemes in the early seventies by recharacterizing tribal land into state land with the consultation and consent of Batswana Tribes. That process of nationalization may have led State officials to believe that it is a continuous process and that all Tribal Land that, for one reason or the other, was not inclu...