Mr Sfiso Benard Nxumalo

 Positions

Stipendiary Lecturer

Qualifications

LLB (University of Witwatersrand)

BCL (Oxford University)

DPhil in Law Candidate

Academic Background and Previous Positions

Sfiso Benard Nxumalo is reading for a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Law at the Faculty of Law at Oxford University. He holds a Bachelor of Civil Laws (BCL) from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Witwatersrand. His research for the DPhil concerns the philosophical purviews of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights and African Legal Theory.

He teaches contract law, constitutional law and administrative law at the University of Oxford

He is the President of the Oxford Law Black Alumni Network and a Graduate Research Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights.

Prior to beginning his studies at Oxford, Sfiso served as a law clerk to Justice Sisi Khampepe and Justice Steven Majiedt at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. He also worked as a candidate attorney at Bowmans, a leading law firm in Africa. He also interned at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, as a Samuel Pisar Travelling Fellow.

Sfiso's research interests include constitutional law, administrative law, property law, legal history, jurisprudence and general commercial law.

Undergraduate Teaching Areas

Administrative Law

Constitutional Law

Contract Law

Research Interests

Constitutional law, human rights, property law, contract law, commercial law, administrative law, African Union

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

1. Nxumalo, S and Jeewa, T “Courts as a bulwark against democratic regression” in Laura- Stella Enonchong, Elvis Fokala and Adem Kassie Adebe (eds.), Democracy in Africa: Regression and Resilience (Juta & Co, 2022)
2. Nxumalo, S and Jeewa, T “Dignity Restoration through Property Rights in Thubakgale v Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality” in  Jill Robbie, Flore Vavourakis, Víðir Smári, Ivan Allegranti, Aleksa Radonjić(eds.), Property Law Perspectives VIII (2023)
3. Nxumalo, S, “Transformative Constitutionalism’s Achilles’ Heel: Inequality and Poverty (2022) (forthcoming in 2024)
4. Nxumalo, SB, “A Mare’s Nest: Freedom of Thought in Africa” in Shiner and O’Callaghen P, The Cambridge Handbook on Freedom of Thought (forthcoming in 2024)
5. Nxumalo, S and Mafora, D “Courts as sites of Political Contestation: A South African Perspective” (2022) (forthcoming in 2024)

Journal Articles

• Nxumalo, S “When are personal rights too personal to be ceded? University of Johannesburg v Auckland Park Theological Seminary 2021 JDR 1151 (CC)`” (2022) 43 Obiter 617
• Nxumalo, S “The role of property in postcolonial contexts” (2022) 10 African Law Review 31
• Nxumalo, S “Agri South Africa v Minister of Minerals and Energy: Another Search for the Meaning of Expropriation Leads to a Dead-End” (2021) 10 African Law Review 22
• Nxumalo, S “A Reasoning Blackhole: The Dearth Of Legal Reasoning in Thubakgale” (Constitutional Court Review – forthcoming)
• Nxumalo, S and Jeewa, T “(In)Equality in Property Ownership” (forthcoming in Obiter)
• Nxumalo, S “The Sisyphean Struggle: The African Union, Regional Economic Committees and Constitutional Changes” (Strathmore Law Review forthcoming)
• Nxumalo, S “Revisiting the concurrence of actions: Trio Engineering Products Inc v Pilot Crushtec International (Pty) Ltd” (forthcoming)
• • Nxumalo, S “The Dilemma involving the Waiver of the Right to rely on the Defence” of Prescription (2017) Nkundla Law Journal, http://www.inkundlajournal.org/index.php/inkundla/article/view/41

  • Newspaper articles and peer-reviewed blogs

    • Nxumalo, SB “A Promising New Dawn: The African Commission’s General Comment 7 on Social Services” (OxHRH Blog, November 2022) https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/a- promising-new-dawn-the-african-commissions-general-comment-7-on-social-services/
    • Mafora, D and Nxumalo, S “Mpofu-Walsh’s book ‘The New Apartheid’ misses the point on common and contract law” published on Mail & Guardian on 22 August 2021, available here: https://mg.co.za/opinion/2021-08-22-mpofu-walshs-book-the-new-apartheid- misses-the-point-on-common-and-contract- law/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1629659419-1
    • Nxumalo, SB “A Culture of Non-Compliance? A Challenge to the African Commission and African Court” (Africa Law Matters, June 2022) https://www.africanlawmatters.com/blog/a-culture-of-non-compliance-a-challenge-to-the- african-commission-and-african-court.
    • Nxumalo, SB and Jeewa TR, “Thubakgale: Obscuring the right to access to adequate housing” (OxHRH Blog, December 2021) https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/thubakgale-obscuring- the-right-to-access-to-adequate-housing/.
    • Sfiso Benard Nxumalo (2021). Revisiting the relationship between property rights and land reform legislation in South Africa: Grobler v Phillips and Others. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-and-subject-groups/property- law/blog/2021/12/revisiting-relationship-between-property.
    • Nxumalo, S “It’s a Sword! It’s a Shield! It’s Res Judicata! - The dilemma of patent validity in South Africa” (2021) IP Iustitia, https://www.ipiustitia.com/2021/02/its-sword-its- shield-its-res-judicata.html.
    • Nxumalo, S “Trump and Twitter: A Freedom of Speech Quagmire”, (OxHRH Blog, January 2021), http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/trump-and-twitter-a-freedom-of-speech-quagmire.
    • Nxumalo, S “The constitutionality of section 10 of the South African Equality Act: a case for balancing the rights to equality, dignity and freedom of expression”, (OxHRH Blog, December 2020), http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk//tthe-constitutionality-of-section-10-of -the- south-african-equality-act-a-case-for-balancing-the-rights-to-equality-dignity-and-freedom-of-expression.
    • Nxumalo, S “The Fallacy behind the Previously Disadvantaged Category” (2015) Media for Justice, http://www.mediaforjustice.net/the-fallacy-of-the-term-the-previously- disadvantaged/.

E-mail

Sfiso.nxumalo@linacre.ox.ac.uk

website address

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people/sfiso-benard-nxumalo-0

Departmental/faculty website

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people/sfiso-benard-nxumalo-0