Some thoughts on socio-economic rights

Abstract

One of the manifest differences between the Bill of Rights in the interim and the 1996 Constitutions is the more comprehensive treatment of social and economic rights in the latter.¹  In addition to the social and economic rights of children contained in section 28(1)(c), education in section 29 and detained persons' rights in section 35(2)(e), Chapter 2 of the 1996 Constitution encapsulates "an entirely new set of rights not foreshadowed in the interim Constitution".²  These relate essentially to housing rights, set out in section 26, and rights protecting health care services, food, water and social security contained in section 27. Certain other provisions also contain socio-economic rights.  So, for example, section 25(5) redistribution of land, section 28, children's rights, section 29, education, section 35(2)(c), the right to a legal practitioner, section 35(2)(e), detainees rights to adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment.