Editorial: Another Day, Another COVID-19 Special Issue: A Vital 'Bandwagon'

• Author: Mutondi Mulaudzi,Babatunde Fagbayibo,Mmatsie Mooki,Kedibone Juda-Chembe
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/11604
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Date: 01 June 2022
• Pages: 1-2

Editorial

Souther n African Public Law

https://d oi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/11604

https://u nisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online)

#11604 | 2 pages

© Unisa Press 2022

Editorial: Another Day, Another COVID-19 Special

Issue: A Vital ‘Bandwagon’

Mutondi Mulaudzi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3468-8347

mulaumm1@unisa.ac.za

Babatunde Fagbayibo

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6391-4112

fagbabo@unisa.ac.za

Mmatsie Mooki

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9559-7748

mookism@unisa.ac.za

Kedibone Chembe

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8627-5333

judapk@unisa.ac.za

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new world of academic research. The various

crises brought about by the pandemic resulted in the need for robust scholarly

engagement across various disciplines. Over the past three years, we have seen several

calls and publications of COVID-19 special issues from academia, where scholars have

written extensively on the effects of the pandemic. This has resulted in a large body of

COVID-19-related research. In 2021 the SAPL jumped onto the ‘bandwagon’ by

inviting authors to make contributions regarding the legal responses to COVID-19,

particularly its eff ect on f undamental rights in Africa and other related topics. This

special issue includes nine pieces (five research articles, two commentaries, one case

note and one short story). Each contribution provides a key insight into the impact of

COVID-19 in the context of constitutionalism and the rule of law in Africa. The authors

explored how the pandemic has impacted on issues ranging from the right to education,

women ’s rights, labour rights, rights of stateless persons, the right to vote and equitable

access to vaccines.

In the first article, Funmi Abioye writes about the effect of the legal responses to the

pandemic on African women by drawing on examples from South Africa. She argues

for the application of Articles 2 and 9 of the Maputo Protocol in ensuring that specific

positive actions are designed to engender women’s participation in the decision-making

process around COVID-19 remedial actions, and the impacts they have had on women.

In the next article, Vhonani Sarah-Jane Neluvhalani-Caquece writes about the access of

stateless persons to COVID-19 vaccination in South Africa. She examines good

practices in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Kenya, and Uganda.

She recommends ubuntu as a tool for ensuring that stateless persons are treated with

dignity. In the third article, Olaniyi Felix Olayinka takes us to Nigeria by providing

insight into the impact of the global pandemic on the right to education for children

living with disabilities. He argues that inclusive education and peaceful co-existence

can be achieved through the adoption of indigenous languages in schools and by having