Rights-based litigation techniques and the judiciary in post- 1994 South African socio-economic rights jurisprudence

Abstract

This study focuses on the vindication of socio-economic rights and the role of judges, especially in the Constitutional Court, in giving meaning to and realizing socio- economic rights in line with the transformative goal of the Constitution. The study traces the socio-economic rights jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court through its first, second, and post-second ‘waves’ or phases in order to lay a foundation of the attitude and approach of the Constitutional Court to socio-economic rights interpretation. The study further looks at the critique against the approaches of the Constitutional Court and finds that the Court is placed in a good position and is empowered to set a normative framework for the realization of socio-economic rights. The normative framework is based on the transformative goals of the Constitution and functions to provide guidance to the Court and the State in general on interpreting and realizing the political aims of socio-economic right