LITIGATING SOCIO-ECONOMIC RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA - PULP

12 Chapter 1
Constitution. 60 In addition to this, a lot has been written on the
nature of the obligations engendered by the socio-economic rights
provisions in the Constitution. This scholarly work has also considered
and critiqued the Constitutional Court’s reasonableness review
approach in enforcing these rights. 61
In spite of this plethora of literature, only a handful of scholars
have written on the subject of judicial remedies for the violation of
socio-economic rights. 62 Though this literature has proved very useful
in providing some insights for this study, it does not canvass the
subject of remedies in a comprehensive manner; it is either written
in a general manner or addresses very specific issues and not remedies
in a general and comprehensive way. Nonetheless, reliance has been
60 See C Dlamini Human rights in Africa: Which way South Africa (1995); Van der
Westhuizen & Viljoen (n 20 above); D van Wyk et al (eds) Rights and
constitutionalism: The new South African legal order (1994); and Sachs (n 27
above). See also Davis (n 8 above); D Davis ‘Democracy: Its influence upon the
process of constitutional interpretation’ (1994) 10 South African Journal on
Human Rights 103; E de Wet The constitutional enforceability of economic and
social rights: The meaning of the German constitutional model for South Africa
(1996); De Villiers (n 8 above) 421.
61 See D Bilchitz ‘Health’ in S Woolman et al (eds) Constitutional law of South Africa
(1996) 56A; D Brand & S Russell (eds.) Exploring the core content of socioeconomic
rights: South African and international perspectives (2002); Sunstein (n
10 above); Brand (n 33 above); K Govender ‘Assessing the constitutional
protection of human rights in South Africa during the first decade of democracy’
in S Buhlungu et al (eds) State of the Nation: South Africa 2005-2006 (2005) 93;
Peris & S Kristian (n 28 above); S Liebenberg ‘The interpretation of socioeconomic
rights’ in S Woolman et al (eds) Constitutional law of South Africa
(2005) 33-1; Liebenberg (n 15 above); Bilchitz (2002) (n 15 above); Bilchitz (2003)
(n 15 above); Davis (2004) (n 19 above); Davis (2006) (n 18 above); P de Vos ‘Pious
wishes or directly enforceable rights?: Social and economic rights in South Africa’s
1996 Constitution (1997) 13 South African Journal on Human Rights 67;
Liebenberg (n 36 above); P de Vos ‘The economic and social rights of children in
South Africa’s transitional Constitution’ (1995) 2 SA Public Law 67; A Gabriel
‘Socio-economic rights in the Bill of Rights: Comparative lessons from India’
(1997) 1 The Human Rights and Constitutional Law Journal of Southern Africa 9;
M Heywood ‘Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in South Africa:
Background, strategies and outcomes of the Treatment Action Campaign's case
against the Minister of Health’ (2003) 19 South African Journal on Human Rights
78; Liebenberg (n 2 above); S Liebenberg ‘The right to social assistance: The
implications of Grootboom for policy reform in South Africa’ (2001) 17 South
African Journal on Human Rights 232; and S Liebenberg ‘The value of human
dignity in interpreting socio-economic rights’ (2005) 21 South African Journal on
Human Rights 1.
62 K Roach & G Budlender ‘Mandatory relief and supervisory jurisdiction: When is it
appropriate, just and equitable’ (2005) 122 South African Law Journal 325; Pillay
(n 18 above); Swart (n 16 above); Heywood (n 61 above); W Trengrove ‘Judicial
Remedies for violations of socio-economic rights’ (1999) 1 ESR Review 8; Tushnet
(n 10 above); and K Roach ‘Crafting remedies for violations of economic, social
and cultural rights’ in Squires et al (n 36 above) 111.