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 the Bill of Rights state that they 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 terms of law of

general application, and no law may permit arbitrary deprivation of

property’.

Although most of the rights in the 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 free

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

418 SACJ.(2013) 3

(2013) 26 SACJ 418

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd