The book Between legal tradition and transformation by Tresor Muhindo Makunya, recently published by the Pretoria University Law Press (PULP), was on 29 April 2026 launched at an event hosted by PULP, the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) Chair in International Constitutional Law and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. The event was attended by around 60 people in person, and some 50 people on line.
After the author provided a background to the conception and writing of the book, which focuses on the Constitutional Courts of Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, three panelists shared their insightful comments on the text. Dr Laura-Stella Enonchong, Reader in Law, Co-convenor of Doctoral Studies, College of Law, SOAS University of London, described the book as original. She highlighted that it is the first monograph to bridge the divide between the ‘Anglophone’ and ‘Francophone’ African legal traditions by discussing the case-law of three apex courts from countries across these traditions.
Dr Horace Adjolohoun, Head of the Legal Division, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Arusha, Tanzania, expressed the view that the book forms part of a process of decolonising law – and judicial practices – in Africa.
Dr Adem Abebe, Senior Advisor, Constitutional, Rule of Law and Governance programme, International IDEA, noted that, by dissecting the behaviour of the judiciaries of the three African countries, the book provides the best evidence to date of the link between legal tradition and judicial practice.
The author responded to comments and questions from the audience. He explained the choice of the three countries, highlighting that, despite the small size of the country in which it is located, the Constitutional Court of Benin had been a leading voice on constitutionalism in Africa.
The NRF Chair, Frans Viljoen, who acted as moderator, thanked those who made the event possible, and the person behind the production of the book, PULP’s manager, Lizette Hermann.
Tresor Makunya is currently based at the SARChI Chair at the University of Pretoria, where he is a senior post-doctoral fellow.
PULP was established in 2005. Operating a scholarly publishing model that is free for both authors to publish and readers to access, PULP is a Diamond Open Access Publisher. All its publications are available on the basis of complete open access. For an online open-access copy of Between legal tradition and transformation, see: