International Team Project: South Africa Research Checklist

Country Information

• General Resources by Country or Region Pritzker Legal Research Center. The resources on this page provide a great deal of information on the history, geography, government, economy, etc., of the countries of the world. See "Resources for more than one country or region."

Business and Economic Conditions: Additional Resources

• Export.gov: South Africa U.S. Commercial Service, Dept.of Commerce
• Southern African Development Community (SADC)
• MBendi Country Profile for South Africa MBendi Information Services (a privately owned company)

African Studies Web Sites and Other Web Sites for Africa

• Northwestern University: Africana Collection | Electronic Resources | Program of African Studies
• Stanford University: Africa South of the Sahara.
• Columbia University: African Studies Internet Resources (World Wide Web Virtual Library) | International Directory of African Studies Scholars.

South African Governmental Information

• South African Government Online
• Parliament of South Africa Parliamentary papers, bills, acts, publications.
• Provincial Government Leaders South Africa Government Online
• South African Law Reform Commission
• Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG)
• Polity.org.za Creamer Media (private company)
• South Africa Profile (BBC News)
• South Africa Yearbook 2010/11 "This publication is the official authoritative reference work on the Republic of South Africa and is updated annually."

Laws and Legal System

Introductions, Description, Analysis, Legal Research, Legal Organizations

• Introduction to the Law of South Africa, ed. C.G. van der Merwe, Jacques E. du Plessis (2004). N,ISO KTL 68 .I583 2004
• "South Africa" in Legal Systems of the World : a Political, Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia, ed. Herbert M. Kritzer, vol. 4, pages 1483-1491. I, REF K48 .L44 2002
• Researching South African Law (GlobaLex) By Amanda Barratt and Pamela Snyman, update by Redson Edward Kapindu. (2010)
• Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World by Reynolds and Flores. For each country, background on the legal system and legal publication, citations to laws on particular topics and to English language translations.
• "South Africa Law Digest" in Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest.
  Lexis (INTDIG)
• Annual Survey of South African Law Has chapters on various aspects of SA law. 1947-2009. I,PER K 1 .N675 Also in HeinOnline (1947-2007)
• General Council of the Bar of South Africa
• Law Society of South Africa
• Legal Aid South Africa

Comprehensive Legal Links

• South Africa Links from Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII)

Constitution

Statutes

Cases

Finding Books on South Africa

• NUcat Searching Tips: Using NUcat to search for books on a topic.
  The preceding section explains how clicking on the "Library of Congress Subject Headings" in a catalog record can help to focus a search. Subject headings can also be searched directly. From the NUcat "Search" tab, search in "Subject Heading" or "Browse Subject Heading" Some Library of Congress Subject Headings are listed below. (The dashes and parentheses can be omitted.)
  human rights -- South Africa
  women in development -- South Africa
  Zanzibar -- politics and government -- 1964-
• Finding Books at Other Libraries (WorldCat )

Finding Articles:

Hints: Many subject areas are relevant - not just law. | Use indexes to identify relevant articles. | "Advanced search" often easier than "basic search." | Find relevant citation, then click on "subject headings" or "descriptors" to find more. | "Find it at NU" button often leads to electronic full text. | NUcat "journal title" search leads to print and/or electronic full text.

• Finding Articles and Papers on Foreign and Comparative Law (for articles on law of countries other than the U.S. and comparative law methodology, from journals published both in the U.S. and abroad)
• Finding Articles and Papers on International Law (for public and private international law)
• Find Non-Law Articles (for subjects in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences)

South African Law Journals

• Acta Juridica I,PER K 1 .C925 and HeinOnline
• De Rebus (South African Attorneys' Journal) Africana L 349.6805.D2687 (1979-1984) and Online (1998-)
• Industrial Law Journal: including the industrial law reports Africana 344.6801 I42
• South African Law Journal I,PER K 23 .O3488 and HeinOnline , prior title Cape Law Journal Africa SA 05 C23 (See Circ. Desk)
• South African Journal on Human Rights I,PER K 23 .O3487
• South African Human Rights Yearbook I,PER K 23 .O3485 and HeinOnline
• Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa I,PER K 3 .O399
• South African Yearbook of International Law I,PER K 23 .O349

Finding Dissertations

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses: Full Text Entries for doctoral dissertations and master's theses, many of which are available for immediate free download. Can search by school, e.g., Northwestern.

Finding Statistics

• Afrobarometer. Provides working papers, statistical data, and surveys on a variety of topics from countries throughout Africa.
• Statistics South Africa
• NationMaster.com: South Africa
• Worldwide Statistical Resources

News: General, Legal, and Business

Note that both Lexis and Westlaw allow you to create and save a search, to be run on a periodic basis, such as daily or weekly. For links to tutorials, see the Research Alerts page of the library's web site. Always check scope notes (click on information icon) for dates of coverage. Not all publications are current.

Many organizations make it possible to monitor news by means of an RSS/XML ("Really Simple Syndication") feed. For information of setting up RSS feeds, see the Research Alerts: RSS Feeds section of the library's web site.

• ISI Emerging Markets Sub-Saharan Africa > News > Latest News by Country > South Africa
• Lexis. News & Business; then Country & Region (excluding U.S.); then either Worldnews or Middle East & Africa.
• Westlaw. International/Worldwide materials; then Sub-Saharan Africa; then Regional Materials and Individual Country Materials.
• allAfrica.com (African news wire)
• Law Society of South Africa Click on "Media"
• Legalbrief. Includes an extensive archive of law-related newspaper articles (in full text), including reports on court cases and new legislation. (Some materials available to subscribers only)
• News and Media Links. From South Africa Government Information.
• De Rebus
• World News Connection . Provided to the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) by the Open Source Center (OSC)

International Organizations

African Regional Organizations

(Note: South Africa is not a member of all of these organizations or a signatory to all treaties creating the organizations)

• African Development Bank Group. South Africa is a member.
• African Union. South Africa is a member.
• Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). South Africa is not a member.
• Treaty on the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa - English language version. South Africa is not a member.
• Southern African Development Community (SADC). South Africa is a member.
• Directory of African NGOs. Directory of NGOs by Country and Action Area Topics.

Other Intergovernmental Organizations

(Note: South Africa is not necessarily a member of all.)

• South Africa International Reports (2011) Reports on South Africa published in international organization documents.
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• International Labour Organization (ILO)
• Interpol - Regional Activities (Africa)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• United Nations Economic, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• Global Issues - Africa Initiative Resources in the United Nations systems
• World Health Organization (WHO)

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) resources:

• NGO Pulse Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT)
• HuriSearch Portal HURIDOCS (Human Rights Documentation and Information Systems International) A search engine that searches over 4,000 human rights websites worldwide.

Additional Resources for Selected Topics:

Diamond Industry

• ISI Emerging Markets . Under “ South Africa” select “Industries,” then “Mining, Quarrying and Oil and Gas Extraction." Search within this industry for “diamond.”

Education

• ERIC (EBSCO) Citations to articles and reports on education.

HIV/AIDS

• HIV and AIDs in South Africa from Avert.org
• South Africa HIV/AIDS Statistics from Avert.org
• AIDS Foundation South Africa. Statistics and Annual Reports about the spread of AIDS/HIV in South Africa.
• AEGIS (AIDS Education Global Information System)
• Department of Health (South Africa) - HIV/AIDS
• UNAIDS: South Africa
• USAID Africa: South Africa
• World Health Organization: South Africa

Human Rights

• South African Journal on Human Rights School of Law, University of Witwatersrand.
  I,PER K 23 .O3487 and HeinOnlilne.
• 2010 Human Rights Report: South Africa U.S. Dept. of State.
• Amnesty International Annual Report 2011: South Africa
• Amnesty International South Africa
• Human Rights Watch: South Africa
• South African Human Rights Commission
• United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: South Africa
• African Human Rights Resources University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
• South Africa Constitutional Law and Human Rights links Columbia University Libraries, African Studies.
• Human Rights page of Pritzker Legal Research Center web site.

Human Trafficking

• Trafficking in Persons Report U. S. Dept. of State

Refugees/Forced Migration

• ReliefWeb: Southern Africa Humanitarian Crisis (CE)
• UNHCR: The United Nations Refugee Agency: South Africa United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web, by Elisa Mason (LLRX.com, 2009)
• Forced Migration Online
• Reparations, Reconciliation and Forced Migration: FMO Research Guide, by Megan Bradley (Forced Migration Online, 2006)
• Refugee and Ayslum Resources University of Minnesota Human Rights Library

Truth and Reconciliation Commission

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission (official website)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report (CD-ROM) M, CDR JQ 1981.S68.1999b.
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, 1998 N,ISO JQ 1981 .S68 1998 vols. 1-5 and Online (21 March 2003)
• Truth and Reconciliation Commssion of South Africa Report. Macmillan Reference, 1999, 5 vols. N,ISO JQ 1981 .S68 1999

Water Rights/Environment/Land Use

• ECOLEX. World Conservation Union (IUCN). A database of information on environmental law.
• FAOLEX. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. A legislative database on food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources.

Wine Industry

• SAWIS (S A Wine Industry Information & Systems) Regulatory Framework of the Wine Industry.

South African Law Schools and Law Libraries - selective list