Book Review: Socio-economic Rights: Adjudication under a Transformative Constitution

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Pages: 229-232
• Author: Nicholas Wasonga Orago
• Citation: (2013) 24 Stell LR 229
• Date: 16 August 2019

229

BOOK REVIEWS / BOEKRESENSIES

Socio-economic Rights: Adjudication under a Transformative

Constitution by S Liebenberg. Juta & Co Ltd 2010. xxv & 541 pp. ISBN

9780702184802. Price R645.00 (soft cover)

1 Introduction

In her book – Socio-Eco nomic Rights: Adjudication under a Transformative

Constitution – Professor Sand ra Liebenberg undert akes a meticulous and

masterfu l exposition, as well as an incisive and thoughtf ul critique, of the

socio-economic right s (“SER”s) jurisprude nce of the South African cou rts.

For the usual generalist reade r, this book is an intim idating literar y giant,

towering at over 539 pages. Yet the substantive comprehen siveness with which

it tackles the myria d concerns and challe nges that have so far bedevilled the

judicial adjudication of SERs in the South Af rican context is unpa ralleled

by any previous single literar y work on the subject. Furthe r, the diplomatic

language that populat es the entire breadt h of the book is iconic; the very

hallmark of the literary skills of the author as is reected in all her publications

so far. Liebenberg tactful ly, and almost apologetically, deals substantively

and eloquently with the controversial and d ivisive challenges that have

bedevilled the implementat ion of SERs in South Africa, es pecially the SERs

jurisprude nce of the South African courts , eshing out the substantive issues

without unduly ina ming passions.

The book has a rm historical and contextual grou nding, not only entailing

the history of SERs in t he South African context , but also inculcating a

historical and context ual analysis in each a nd every substantive chapter.

Chapter one concisely provides an illum ination of the histor y of socio-

economic deprivation and ma rginalisation of black South Africans, i ndicating

that even though this subord ination was perfect ed during the apa rtheid

era, 1948-1994, the seeds had been effectively sown in the colonial per iod.

Chapter two develops the concept of tran sformative constitutional ism in the

SERs context, providing illum inative guidelines a nd pointers to enable the

courts to real ise the transformative potential of the entre nched SERs. Chapter

three locates the ent renched SERs in the context of the Bill of Rig hts in

particular a nd the entire Constit ution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

(“the Constitution”) in gene ral, taki ng into account the inter dependent and

relational concept of rights that popu lates the entire brea dth of the book.

Chapter four develops the standa rd of reasonableness review, calling on the

courts to adopt a more s ubstantive conception of rights wh ich espouses the

content, scope and purposes of the ent renched SERs. Chapter ve looks at

the SERs of vulnerable and ma rginalised groups such as children a nd persons

deprived of their liber ty, contending that due to their sp ecial vulnera bility,

the courts must u ndertake a more st ringent scrut iny of the violations of their

rights, taki ng into account the st ringent limit ation provisions provided for

in section 36 of the Constitution. C hapter six looks at a new parad igm for

(2013) 24 Stell LR 229

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