In 2007, the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in the case of S v M 2007 (2) SACR 539 (CC), which dealt with an appeal against a sentence of imprisonment. Before setting aside and replacing this sentence with that of correctional supervision, Sachs J remarked that: "[72] To start with, her offer to repay the persons she defrauded appears to be genuine and realistic. It would have special significance if she is required to make the repayments on a face-to-face basis. This could be hard for her, but restorative justice ideally requires looking the victim in the eye and acknowledging wrongdoing. There might be practical problems in this case in ensuring that M meets individually with each of the many persons she defrauded... . What matters is that in both a practical and symbolical way M begins to restore a relationship that would otherwise remain ruptured. For M herself this process of acknowledgement and reconciliation removes the silent brand of criminality that imprisonment would bring and facilitates restoration of trust and her reintegration into the community." 

 

3.1 The applicant offered to compensate victims of her crime. According to the court, such compensation would have special meaning if made on a face-to-face basis. This would enable her to acknowledge her wrongdoing by looking the victim in the eye and by starting the process of restoring the damaged relationship. How is this method of dealing with crime similar to the African legal approach to law and conflicts? Discuss.  (15) 

 

3.2 When dealing with conflicts, the restoration of relationships (or reconciliation) is considered to be important from an African legal perspective. Explain why this is the case.  (10) 

 

3.3 Based on your understanding of natural law thinking and legal positivism as explained by yourself in your answer to Question 1.1 above, indicate how African legal traditions resonate with these two legal philosophical schools of thought.? You do not need to refer to the abovenmentioned case in your answer.