Recent Case: Constitutional aspects

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Pages: 418-431
• Author: Warren Freedman
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Citation: (2013) 26 SACJ 418

Constitutional aspects

WARREN FREEDMAN

University of KwaZulu-Natal

1 Application of the Bill of Rights

1.1 Introduction

The majority of rights in t he Bill of Rights state that t hey may be

claimed by ‘everyone’. Section 9(1), for example, states that ‘everyone

is equal before the law and had to the right to equal protection and

benef‌it of the law’; section 15(1) that ‘everyone has the right to freedom

of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion’; and section 25(1)

that ‘no one may be deprived of property except in ter ms of law of

general application, and no law may permit arbitrar y deprivation of

pr op er t y ’.

Although most of the rights in t he Bill of Rights are for the benef‌it

of everyone, some are guaranteed of a narrower category of people

only. Section 19(1)(a), for example, provides that ‘every citizen is f ree

to make political choices, which includes the right to form a political

418 SACJ . (2013) 3

(2013) 26 SACJ 418

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