CSL2601/101/3/2024

Tutorial Letter 101/3/2024

Constitutional Law
CSL2601

Semesters 1 and 2

Department of Public, Constitutional &

International Law

This tutorial letter contains important information about your module.

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CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 3
2 PURPOSE AND OUTCOMES ...................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Purpose ....................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Outcomes ..................................................................................................................................... 4
3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION........................................................................................... 4
4 CONTACTING THE UNIVERSITY VIA EMAIL ............................................................................ 5
4.1 Lecturer and their contact details .................................................................................................. 6
4.2 College of Law Information Centre ............................................................................................... 6
4.3 University .................................................................................................................................... 6
5 RESOURCES............................................................................................................................... 7
5.1 Library services and resources information .................................................................................. 7
6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES ............................................................................................... 8
6.1 Companies falsely advertising Unisa services .............................................................................. 8
7 ASSESSMENT............................................................................................................................. 8
7.1 Assessment criteria ...................................................................................................................... 8
7.2 Assessment plan .......................................................................................................................... 8
7.3 Assessment due dates ................................................................................................................. 9
7.4 Submission of assessments ......................................................................................................... 9
7.5 Other assessment methods ........................................................................................................ 10
8 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY ........................................................................................................ 10
8.1 Plagiarism .................................................................................................................................. 10
8.2 Cheating ..................................................................................................................................... 10
8.3 Academic and Administrative matters ......................................................................................... 10
8.3.1 Academic Matters ....................................................................................................................... 10
8.3.2 Administrative Matters ................................................................................................................ 10
9 STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES ................................................................................. 10
10 IN CLOSING .............................................................................................................................. 10

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1 INTRODUCTION
Unisa is a comprehensive ODeL higher education institution. The comprehensiveness of our
curricula encapsulates a range of offerings, from strictly vocational to strictly academic certificates,
diplomas and degrees. Unisa's "openness" and its distance eLearning character result in many
students registering at Unisa who may not have had an opportunity to enrol in higher education.
Our ODeL character implies that our programmes are carefully planned and structured to ensure
success for students ranging from the under-prepared but with potential to the sufficiently prepared.
Teaching and learning in an ODeL context involve multiple modes of delivery ranging from blended
learning to fully online. As a default position, all post-graduate programmes are offered fully online
with no printed study materials, while undergraduate programmes are offered in a blended mode
of delivery where printed study materials are augmented with online teaching and learning via the
learner management system – myUnisa.
CSL2601 is a blended module where printed study materials are augmented with online teaching
and learning via the learner management system – myUnisa. You are required to purchase the
prescribed textbook: Pierre de Vos & Warren Freedman (eds), Zsa-Zsa Boggenpoel, Lisa Draga,
Christopher Gevers, Karthy Govender, Patricia Lenaghan, Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, Catherine S.
Namakula, Nomthandazo Ntlama, Douglas Mailula, Khulekani Moyo, Sanele Sibanda & Lee Stone
South African Constitutional Law in Context 2 ed Oxford University Press (2021), which is to be
studied in conjunction with Tutorial Letter 102. For this module you only need to study Chapters
1 to 8 of the prescribed textbook.
Despite being a blended module, myUnisa is used as a virtual campus. This is an online system
used to administer, document, and deliver educational material to you and support engagement
with you. You are encouraged to log into the CSL2601 module site regularly.
Furthermore, our programmes are aligned with the vision, mission and values of the University.
Unisa's commitment to serving humanity and shape futures combined with a clear appreciation of
our location on the African continent, Unisa's graduates have distinctive graduate qualities, namely:
• independent, resilient, responsible and caring citizens who are able to fulfil and serve in multiple
roles in their immediate and future local, national and global communities
• having a critical understanding of their location on the African continent with its histories,
challenges and potential in relation to globally diverse contexts
• the ability to critically analyse and evaluate the credibility and usefulness of information and
data from multiple sources in a globalised world with its ever-increasing information and data
flows and competing worldviews
• how to apply their discipline-specific knowledges competently, ethically and creatively to solve
real-life problems
• an awareness of their own learning and developmental needs and future potential
Whether a module is offered either as blended (meaning that we use a combination of printed and
online material to engage with you) or online (all information is available via the internet), we use
myUnisa as our virtual campus. This is an online system that is used to administer, document and
deliver educational material to you and support engagement with you. Look out for information from
your lecturer as well as other Unisa platforms to determine how to access the virtual myUnisa
module site. Information on the tools that will be available to engage with the lecturer and fellow
students to support your learning will also be communicated via various platforms.
The objective of constitutional law is to inculcate a culture of thinking citizens, who can function
effectively, creatively and ethically as part of a democratic society … [with] an understanding of
their society, and be able to participate fully in its political, social and cultural life. Our approach is
that we afford you optimal opportunities for learning with the intention of making complex
information understandable, relevant and personally important.
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2 PURPOSE AND OUTCOMES
2.1 Purpose
You will succeed in your constitutional law studies if you are able to:
▪ locate, identify and extract the concepts, principles and rules of constitutional law from a
variety of sources, in particular textbooks, statutes, law reports and journal articles.
▪ present written arguments that demonstrate your understanding of the concepts, principles
and rules of constitutional law.
▪ analyse judgments of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High
Courts, so as to list, summarise, apply and judge the constitutional concepts, principles and
rules articulated and developed by the courts.
▪ analyse the facts of legal problems to identify the nature of the problem, explain the
appropriate legal concepts, principles and rules and correctly apply these concepts, principles
and rules to demonstrate an ability to analyse and solve problem questions.
Ideally, however, you should be able to provide a broad and comprehensive depth of
understanding of the material, particularly if you are registered for the LLB degree, of which
CSL2601 is a core compulsory module worth 12 credits.
2.2 Outcomes
As a dynamic subject that develops continuously due to binding judicial precedent set in cases
concerning the interpretation and application of the Constitution, constitutional law includes far more
than simply what is contained in the textbook South African Constitutional Law in Context. When
studying CSL2601, you are expected to achieve a number of outcomes, such as:
- ensuring that you recognise the obligation imposed upon you as responsible citizens to keep
the government in check
- demonstrating your understanding of the mutually supporting relationship between a
sovereign state’s internal and external utterances, thus ensuring that the international law
commitments that South Africa has voluntarily undertaken – and compliance therewith –
conform fully with the Constitution;
- identifying when the theory contained in the Constitution or other law does not cohere with
practice, specifically with regard to executive conduct performed when implementing law.

To pass CSL2601, a pass mark of at least 50% is required. You will pass if you are able to:
▪ identify legal principles correctly and articulate/explain them in a fundamentally accurate way;
▪ analyse substantive law in a fundamentally accurate way and display adequate understanding;
▪ express yourself in language that is of an acceptable level, without plagiarizing; and
▪ communicate your solutions to the issues and questions by making use of appropriate
information technology and using the correct format so that the work is presented in a
professional manner that illustrates awareness of cognate fields.

3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION
Unisa has implemented a transformation charter based on five pillars and eight dimensions.
Curriculum transformation is high on the agenda. Curriculum transformation includes the
following pillars: student-centred scholarship, the pedagogical renewal of teaching and
assessment practices, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the infusion of African
epistemologies and philosophies. The relevance of this to constitutional law cannot be
underestimated. It is therefore appropriate to quote Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth
to provide context: For colonialism’s ‘systematic negation of the other person and a furious

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determination to deny the other person all attributes of humanity,’ 1 the dominated inevitably and
constantly ask themselves: ‘In reality, who am I?’2 ‘To decolonize’, contends John Murungi, ‘is to
remove the harm that has been done by colonialism.’3 ‘No human being has been unaffected in
the process of colonization’, he continues, and, hence, we all must undergo the process of
decolonisation. ‘As human beings, our human dignity is indivisible. No one can wholly make a
case for one’s wellbeing without making a case for the wellbeing of all other human beings.’4

Thus, Murungi advocates for a proviso in this endeavour:

If colonization was objectionable because it dehumanized Africans, clearly, Africans cannot pursue
decolonization at the expense of the dignity of fellow Africans or, at the dignity of any other people.
Africans are not immunized from dehumanizing fellow Africans or other people. The dehumanized
can become the dehumanizers. Post-colonial African provides ample evidence to demonstrate that
this is indeed the case. Dehumanization is not an invention of the colonizers. It predates them and
most likely it is bound to happen in future.5
As Murungi warns: ‘What ought to be increasingly clear is that dehumanization can be done in
the name of law.’6 ‘It is a matter of knowing what was done to Africans in the name of law for law
is nothing more than what is done in its name.’7 In the words of Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni,
‘denying others humanity is the highest form of barbarism.’8 Framing Murungi’s perspective is
the knowledge that ‘the life of law in Africa is not only a central feature of life in Africa but also a
mirror of African life in general.’9 Murungi then puts it at its most quintessential:
At stake in the decolonization of African law is the decolonization of the African. Every legal theory
is an anthropology. It is a statement on how a human being is to be construed. It is a statement on
what it is to be a human being. Law is superficially understood if it is viewed as nothing more than
a special type of a rule or a special body of rules. When understood as a statement or expression
of what it is to be a human being, then, decolonization … calls for decolonization of the African.
Importantly, ‘[l]aw as a special type of rule or as a special type of body of rules must have as its
aim to be in the service of decolonizing the African.’10 As such, it is our wish that you will embrace
the challenge of being part of the process of decolonising South African law by understanding and
interpreting the law in a manner that is consistent with the objectives of transformative
constitutionalism, including adherence to the rule of law, social justice and constitutionalism.

4 CONTACTING THE UNIVERSITY VIA EMAIL

To assist Unisa to safeguard your personal information, please ensure that you only use your myLife
e-mail account when communicating with the university. We will not be responding to any emails
sent from private email addresses.
By using your myLife e-mail account, the university has a reasonable assurance that we are
communicating with you, as your e-mail address contains your student number and you use your
login credentials to access the account.

1 Robert JC Young Postcolonialism (2003) Oxford University Press 139.

2 Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth (1969) Grove Press 182.
3 John Murungi African Philosophical Currents (2018) Routledge 99.
4 Murungi (n 3 above) 106.
5 ibid 100-101.
6 ibid.
7 ibid 99.
8 Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni ‘Racism and “blackism” on a world scale’ in Olivia U Rutazibwa and Robbie Shilliam
(eds) Routledge Handbook of Postcolonial Politics (2018) Routledge 75. Murungi (n 3 above) 98.
9 ibid.
10 ibid.
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Unisa may only communicate with a student using a private e-mail address under the following
circumstances:
• Where a student requires assistance in resolving myLife e-mail account access problems.

Please be aware that any personal information you publish on public platforms, such as social media
platforms and WhatsApp groups, is not covered by the provisions of Protection of Personal
Information Act 4 of 2013. Any personal information published in the public domain is not considered
private and can, therefore be accessed by external parties with access to such platforms.
4.1 Lecturer and their contact details
Prof Lee Stone Room 7-46, Cas van Vuuren Building  [email protected]
(Primary Lecturer) Muckleneuk campus, Unisarand Tshwane 0003  012 429 8492

4.2 College of Law Information Centre

College-specific queries, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
The college can also be contacted by phoning 012 429 4718/4860/6166/3253/4428.
Please send all emails from your mylife email account. If you send an e-mail directly to a Unisa
e-mail address, insert your student number in the subject line to effect the correct routing to an
advisor for processing.
4.3 University
To contact the university, please dial 080 000 1870. Remember to keep your student number at
hand when contacting the university. The Unisa Student Communication Service Centre will be open
weekdays from 08:00 – 16:00 (South African Standard Time).
Please check the list carefully and send an enquiry to one e-mail address only. This will ensure
that there is no confusion as to who must respond. Students should only forward enquiries to the
Registrar and Deputy Registrar where their enquiries could not be resolved at other levels.
TYPE OF QUERY EMAIL ADDRESS TELEPHONE NUMBER
ICT
myUnisa [email protected] 012 429 3111 (Option 2)
myLife [email protected] 012 429 3111 (Option 2)
STUDENT ADMISSIONS AND REGISTRATIONS
General applications and registration
[email protected]
queries
College of Law [email protected]
International students [email protected]
Exemptions [email protected]
Access and matriculation exemption [email protected]
Re-admissions [email protected]
STUDENT ASSESSMENT ADMINISTRATION
General assignment enquiries [email protected]
General exam queries [email protected] 012 429 8641
Aegrotat exams [email protected] 012 429 8641

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Exam arrangements for students with [email protected]

012 429 8641
disabilities
Exam admission [email protected] 012 429 8641
International students [email protected] + 27 12 429 2268
Remarks [email protected] 012 429 8641
Purchase of an exam script [email protected] 012 429 8641
FINANCE
Student account enquiries [email protected] 012 429 2441/4299
STUDENT FUNDING
General student funding enquiries [email protected] 012 441 5600
STUDY MATERIAL
Despatch enquiries [email protected]

5 RESOURCES
5.1 Library services and resources information
The Unisa library offers a range of information services and resources:
• For brief information, go to https://www.unisa.ac.za/library/libatglance
• For more detailed library information, go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library
• For research support and services (e.g. the services offered by personal librarians and the
request a literature search service offered by the information search librarians), go to
http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-services/Research-support
• For library training for undergraduate students, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-services/Training
The library has created numerous library guides, available at http://libguides.unisa.ac.za
Recommended guides:
• Request and find library material/download recommended material:
http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/request
• Postgraduate information services: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/postgrad
• Finding and using library resources and tools: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/Research_skills
• Frequently asked questions about the library: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/ask
• Services to students living with disabilities: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/disability
• A–Z of library databases: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/az.php

Important contact information:

• Ask a librarian: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/ask
• Technical problems encountered in accessing library online services: [email protected]
• General library-related queries: [email protected]
• Queries related to library fines and payments: [email protected]
• Social media channels: Facebook: UnisaLibrary and Twitter: @UnisaLibrary

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6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
The Study @ Unisa brochure is available on myUnisa: www.unisa.ac.za/brochures/studies. This
brochure contains important information and guidelines for successful studies through Unisa.
If you need assistance with regard to the myModules system, use the following contact details:
• Toll-free landline: 0800 00 1870 (Select option 07 for myModules)
• E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
You can access/view videos on topics such as how to view your calendar, how to access module
content, how to view announcements for modules, how to submit assessment and how to participate
in forum activities at the following link: https://dtls-qa.unisa.ac.za/course/view.php?id=32130
Registered Unisa students get a free myLife e-mail account. Important information, notices and
updates are sent exclusively to this account. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for your
account to be activated after you have claimed it. Please do this immediately after registering at
Unisa, by following this link: [email protected]
Your myLife account is the only e-mail account recognised by Unisa for official correspondence
with the university, and will remain the official primary e-mail address on record at Unisa. You
remain responsible for the management of this e-mail account.

6.1 Companies falsely advertising Unisa services

Some companies and social media pages have been falsely advertising Unisa online information
and various services to assist Unisa students. In the process, companies either solicit money
fraudulently from students or make money through online advertising with no benefit to students.
These companies are in no way associated or related to Unisa.
We request that students only use official Unisa sites and platforms as any other platforms will
provide you with incorrect information and/or act illegally which will be harmful to your studies.
Unisa will always use official communication channels (eg Unisa website, myUnisa, Unisa social
media platforms, myLife e-mail) to communicate with students. Please use the following Unisa
platforms for official Unisa information:
• www.unisa.ac.za
• https://my.unisa.ac.za
• https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfSouthAfrica
• https://twitter.com/unisa
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/unisa

7 ASSESSMENT
7.1 Assessment criteria
You are required to reference your answers by providing all the relevant detail so that the reader
can find the precise page or paragraph number of the source that you are referring to. You are also
required to use the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA).
7.2 Assessment plan
• To complete this module, you will be required to submit two assessments: one quiz and one
written assignment.
• All information about when and where to submit your assessments will be made available to you
via the myModules site for your module.
• Due dates for assessments, as well as the actual assessments are available on the myModules.
• To gain admission to the examination, you will be required to submit two assignment/s and obtain
a year mark average of 40% for the assignments.

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• The assignment weighting for the module is 20%.

• You will receive examination information via the myModules sites. Please watch out for
announcements on how examinations for the modules will be conducted.
• The examination will count 80% towards the final module mark.
7.3 Assessment due dates
• Assignment due dates will be made available to you on the myUnisa landing page for this
module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to you upon registration.
• Please start working on your assessments as soon as you register for the module.
• Log on to the myUnisa site for this module to obtain more information on the due dates for the
submission of the assessments.
7.4 Submission of assessments
• Unisa, as a comprehensive open distance e-learning institution (CODeL), is moving towards
becoming an online institution. You will therefore see that all your study material, assessments
and engagements with your lecturer and fellow students will take place online. We use myUnisa
as our virtual campus.
• The myUnisa virtual campus will offer students access to the myModules site, where learning
material will be available online and where assessments should be completed. This is an online
system that is used to administer, document, and deliver educational material to students and
support engagement between academics and students.
• The myUnisa platform can be accessed via https://my.unisa.ac.za. Click on the myModules
2023 button to access the online sites for the modules that you are registered for.
• The university undertakes to communicate clearly and as frequently as is necessary to ensure
that you obtain the greatest benefit from the use of the myModules learning management
system. Please access the announcements on your myModules site regularly, as this is where
your lecturer will post important information to be shared with you.
• When you access your myModules site for the module/s you are registered for, you will see a
welcome message posted by your lecturer. Below the welcome message you will see the
assessment shells for the assessments that you need to complete. Some assessments may be
multiple choice, some tests, others written assessments, some forum discussions, and so on.
All assessments must be completed on the assessment pages available on the module sites.
• To complete quiz assessments, please log on to the module site where you need to complete
the assessment. Click on the relevant assessment shell (Assessment 1, Assessment 2, etc.).
There will be a date on which the assessment will open for you. When the assessment is open,
access the quiz online and complete it within the time available to you. Quiz assessment
questions are not included in this tutorial letter and are only made available online. You must
therefore access the quiz online and complete it online where the quiz has been created.
• It is not advisable to use a cell phone to complete the quiz. Please use a desktop computer,
tablet or laptop when completing the quiz. Students who use a cell phone find it difficult to
navigate the Online Assessment tool on the small screen and often struggle to navigate
between questions and successfully complete the quizzes. In addition, cell phones are more
vulnerable to dropped internet connections than other devices. If at all possible, please do not
use a cell phone for this assessment type.
• For written assessments, please note the due date by which the assessment must be submitted.
Ensure that you follow the guidelines given by your lecturer to complete the assessment. Click
on the submission button on the relevant assessment shell on myModules. You will then be able
to upload your written assessment on the myModules site of the modules that you are registered
for. Before you finalise the upload, double check that you have selected the correct file for
upload. Remember, no marks can be allocated for incorrectly submitted assessments.

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7.5 Other assessment methods
The assessment methods will be in the forms of quiz (assignment 1) and written format (assignment
2) an examination).

8 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY
8.1 Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, ideas and thoughts of others and presenting them as your
own. It is a form of theft. Plagiarism includes the following forms of academic dishonesty:
• Copying and pasting from any source without acknowledging the source.
• Not including references or deliberately inserting incorrect bibliographic information.
• Paraphrasing without acknowledging the original source of the information.
For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below:
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Study-@-Unisa/Student-values-and-rules
8.2 Cheating
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:
• Completing assessments on behalf of another student, copying the work of another student
during an assessment, or allowing another student to copy your work.
• Using social media (WhatsApp, Telegram) or other platforms to disseminate assessment
information.
• Submitting corrupt or irrelevant files, this forms part of examination guidelines
• Buying completed answers from so-called “tutors” or internet sites (contract cheating).
8.3 Academic and Administrative matters
8.3.1 Academic Matters
All module content-related enquiries must first be addressed to the relevant module lecturers. As
already indicated above, all such enquiries must be made from your [email protected] email
account. Where your module lecturer(s) is unable to assist, such enquiries can be escalated to the
Chair of the Department in which your module is located. The Chair of the Department is the one
with the power to resolve issues, is authorised to make such interventions, and has the final say in
matters relating to the administration of a module. Such escalation must be done via the
departmental administrative staff.
8.3.2 Administrative Matters
The contact information for all administrative departments is included earlier in this Tutorial Letter.
Please address administrative issues (eg: registration issues, finance-related issues, graduation
issues, auditing of a qualification, etc) with the relevant support department; not the lecturer.

9 STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

If you are a student with a disability and would like additional support or need additional time for
assessments, you are invited to contact (Prof Lee Stone at [email protected]) to discuss the
assistance that you need.

10 IN CLOSING
Please ensure that you take the time to frequently log in to myUnisa so that you can receive updates
or further information about the module; participate in any discussions on the Discussion Forum;
and complete additional assessments using the Lessons Tool.

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