Impediments to the delivery of socioeconomic rights in South Africa

Abstract

[from the Introduction] The purpose of including Second and Third Generation (STG) rights in a constitution is to provide guidelines to lawmakers to formulate policy and to enable the courts to intervene where these policies are not being implemented satisfactorily. In theory these rights allow citizens to demand from the state access to basic needs, such as adequate land, housing, education, health care, nutrition, and social security. However, this inclusion of rights in the constitution often does not translate into action. The first reason for this is that Second and Third Generation rights may clash with First Generation rights. For example the right to private property may, and in South Africa does, contradict the need for land for the majority. The major problem is whether the policies flowing out of Second and Third Generation rights are pursued with enough vigour by governments, the private sector, primary groups and individuals to overcome this contradiction. In many countries in the world it is the poorest sections of the population, and as Mamdani (1996) pointed out, migrant non-citizens, that bear the brunt of administrative and bureaucratic bungling and neglect.