Academic profile

Mx Busisiwe Deyi is a lecturer at the Department of Jurisprudence since 1 May 2019. They obtained their degrees LLB (Nelson Mandela University), LLM (University of Pretoria) and MA (School of Oriental and African Studies).

They have worked with and undertaken research and consultancy work within the South African legal NGO space focusing on equality and non-discrimination in general and gender equality specifically. They worked for Justice Edwin Cameron and Justice Nonkosi Zoliswa Mhlantla at the Constitutional Court of South Africa as a law clerk.

Additionally, they have worked with NGOs such as Gender DynamiX, the Legal Resources Centre, the Women’s Legal Centre Trust, the ISLA (Institute for Strategic Litigation) where they are currently working on developing a curriculum for public interest litigation lawyers in West Africa. They have also worked on various public cases as a legal strategist. Notable cases they have worked on include the Tanzania 13 Case (Tanzania), KOS and Others v Minister of Home Affairs and Others (South Africa).

Focus areas

Deyi’s main interests include Black feminist legal theory, Queer theory, critical race studies, critical perspectives on transgender legal reform, constitutionalism, and democratization.

Recent publications

• B. Deyi “First class Constitution, second class citizen: Exploring the adoption of the third-gender category in South Africa” in Protecting the human rights of sexual minorities in contemporary Africa, Sylvia Namwase & Adrian Jjukko (2017) Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) available at 
• B, Deyi “Determining Medical Necessity – The Right to Accessible Medical Healthcare for Transgender Persons in South African Law” (2017) Legal Resources Centre in In Pursuit of Equality in South Africa: The Experience of the Legal Resources Centre; 
• B, Deyi (co-author & researcher) “Briefing Paper on Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act No.49 of 2003”.

Academic and professional memberships

Commissioner (Part-time) – Commission for Gender Equality

Member of the Board of Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW)

Awards & Bursaries

Canon Collins Masters scholarship for Study in the UK (2017)

Contact Details

Tel: +27 (0)12 420 2393

Email: [email protected]

Website:

https://winniemandelasfist.org/