The scholarship of Professor Charles Fombad provides important guidance to address contemporary challenges to constitutionalism in Africa and around the world. This is a key conclusion of a conference honouring Charles Fombad’s academic contributions, held on 21 and 22 October at the Future Africa Campus of the University of Pretoria.  

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Professor Charles Manga Fombad, a professor of law in the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria and current Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) at the University of Pretoria, was honoured by friends, colleagues and former students from across the African continent. There was general consensus that he is Africa’s foremost comparative constitutional scholar and a scholar par excellence. Professor Fombad’s lifetime of work has been highly influential in the academia and in practice, and has impacted the understanding of comparative constitutionalism in Africa. All panelists who attended both in-person and online spoke highly of not only the person that Professor Fombad is, but also of the inspiration that he has been and continues to be to scholars and practitioners across the continent.

Two eminent Southern African Judges delivered opening addresses. Justice Lúcia da Luz Ribeiro, President of the Constitutional Council of Mozambique, noted the role Professor Fombad played in informing and influencing the thinking of judicial officers.  Justice Kenneth Mulife of the Zambian Constitutional Court highlighted the symbolic significance of honouring the achievements of a remarkable person such as Charles Fombad during their lifetime.  

Several of Professor Fombad’s friends also made remarks, sharing stories on him and his life. Professor Nico Steytler, who worked with Charles Fombad particularly on the Stellenbosch Handbooks in African Constitutional Law, described his work as ‘meticulously researched, articulately expressed and persuasively argued’. Many other colleagues and friends emphasised the holistic nature of his personality, which allowed him to combine attention to physical exercise, care and compassion for family and friends, and mentorship to your scholars, with academic excellence. The Dean of the Faculty of Law, UP, Professor Elsabe Schoeman, acknowledged Professor Fombad’s academic citizenship. She singled out his contributions as member of the Faculty’s postgraduate committee and his diligence as the convenor of the editorial board of the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP)).   Dr Gift Manyatera, the first of Professor Fombad’s doctoral students to graduate, commended his supervisor for his rigour and inspiration.

Over two days, 40 panelists presented papers on a range of topics under these themes and generated insightful and lively discussion from the audience. Themes addressed include: nurturing the next generation of comparative constitutional law scholars; the role of South Africa’s Chapter 9 institutions in constitutional development in the light of the Nkandla decisions; constitutionalism, vulnerabilities and power; case studies in comparative constitutionalism; broader perspectives on comparative constitutionalism; constitutionalism in the context of coups d’etat, conflict, and fragility; perspectives on South African constitutionalism; and country-focused constitutionalism with selected African case studies. The papers are now being reworked, with a view to a peer-reviewed publication to be published with the Pretoria University Law Press in 2025. 

The event was a collaboration between the University of Pretoria (through its Dean of the Faculty of Law, the Centre for Human Rights (through its Democracy and Civic Engagement Unit), and the SARChi Chair on International Constitutional Law), the University of the Free State (through the Dean, Faculty of Law), and the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers. The event was attended by around 70 people at Future Africa, and by about 80 online participants.

Professor Serges Kamga, Dean, Faculty of Law, UFS, remarked: ‘We would like to thank Professor Fombad for all the work he has done for the legal discipline, for the continent, and for his students. He and his work are prolific, significant, and globally renowned.’ Professor Frans Viljoen, interim SARChI Chair in International Constitutional Law, at UP, added: ‘We look forward to the future work of Professor Fombad and of the many scholars he has inspired!’

Contacts

Frans Viljoen
[email protected]

Bonolo Makgale
[email protected]