Adjudicating socio-economic rights – transforming South African society: A response to Linda Jansen Van Rensburg’s paper

It is trite to say that the adjudication of socio-economic rights is a new enterprise in South African jurisprudence, as it is to the jurisprudence of many other jurisdictions. Professor van Rensburg’s paper seeks to analyse the influence of political, socio-economic and cultural considerations on the interpretation and application of socio-economic rights in the Bill of Rights. The pivots for discussion are the decisions of the Constitutional Court in the Soobramoney,1 Grootboom2 and Treatment Action Campaign3 cases which, thus far, are the only cases in which the Constitutional Court has substantively determined the nature and parameters of socio-economic rights and obligations under the South African Constitution. My response is somewhat deferential in that I largely concur with many of the observations that Professor van Rensburg makes. In some respects, however, I have attempted to bring into the analysis of Soobramoney, Grootboom and Treatment Action Campaign not so much new insights, but rather different emphases. Likewise, my response is constructed around the three cases. I begin with Soobramoney.