Basic rights claims How responsive is ‘reasonableness review’?

Abstract

South Africa’s 1996 Constitution (the Constitution) is widely renowned for its holistic, inclusive Bill of Rights. A particular innovation is its inclusion of a wide range of fully justiciable socio-economic rights. There is now a burgeoning body of jurisprudence from the Constitutional Court interpreting these rights. There can be little doubt that South African jurisprudence has given a significant boost to international endeavors to protect socio-economic rights. Through its jurisprudence, the Court has to achieve a critical balance between effectively protecting the socio-economic rights of the poor, while also respecting the roles of the legislature and executive as the primary branches of government responsible for realising socio-economic rights.