The discourses on the right to housing in Gauteng Province, 1994-2008.
Date
2010-05-25T09:15:57Z
Authors
Thomas, Christopher Gerald
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Abstract
The post-apartheid government of 1994 is a product of the ‘Age of Rights’. Statemaking
processes and the exercise of state powers is managed by the rule of
law based on a constitution. Constitutionally recognised rights, and rights
protection institutions, animate a transition from a legacy of Black political
exclusion and underdevelopment. Intensifying class stratification and inequality
constrain Black’s formal realisation of citizenship rights, placing great pressure
on creative interpretation of constitutionally legitimated claims.
My thesis examines the rights discourse informing the Constitution, particularly
issues about the realisation of social and economic rights. I examine the
unfolding of discourses on the right to housing between 1994 to 2008, to
illustrate of the complexity of the discourse. Episodic housing protests suggest
significant degrees of alienation, marginalisation, and disappointment with
expectations of citizenship and the non-realisation of social and economic rights.
Housing rights is an issue that will affect the democratic consolidation and
political stability prospects of the new political order. I examine the interface
between macro-economic policies, budgets, and the realisation of housing rights,
and assess the impact of an identifiable configuration of forces expected to play
important roles in realising a rights culture and broadening the discourse.
My study draws on a spectrum of qualitative, interpretive, and analysis of
discourse approaches, using data from: published articles, annual reports and
archives, speeches, court proceedings and statements, interviews with persons
whose scope of activities impact the unfolding of the concerned rights, namely,
representatives of government departments, private sector developers,
financing institutions, and civil society formations.
My main findings are that few actors in the configuration support the view that
the Constitution should be changed to make explicit the state’s obligations on the
realisation of social and economic rights. Nevertheless, there are isolated cases
of people expressing an absolute entitlement sense of rights --- the state should
deliver when demands are made. My conclusions are that considerable political
unrest about non-realisation of these rights will persist, but will not cause a
collapse of the post-1994 political institutions and processes. More likely,
political actors, legal scholars and jurists, will persistently engage the prevailing
rights discourse and the variety of institutions acting towards their realisation,
without effecting drastic changes to these, but always invoking positions about
how they still are suited for a post-apartheid transformation project yet need
critical interrogation and improvisation.
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Keywords
Apartheid, Transition, Citizenship, Rights discourse, Constitution, Socio-economic rights, Inequality, Redistribution, Configuration of institutions, Promoting rights, Right of access to adequate housing, Qualification of rights, Fiscal limits on state capacities, Available resources