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Transformative Constitutionalism In South Africa

1091 Words5 Pages

Vuyo Shongwe
Assignment Essay Intro Draft
The concept of transformative constitutionalism supports the notion of the Constitution of Republic of South Africa 1996 as a transformative document, in terms of which the lives of everyday citizens are sought to be improved through the creation of suitable create living conditions for ‘everyone’ residing within South Africa. The Constitution of Republic of South Africa contains the Bills of Rights which codifies fundamental human rights and lays out, in broad terms, what the government has to do in order to accomplish social and economic transformation. Pius Langa , former Chief Justice emphasized that the concept of transformative constitutionalism “is a permanent ideal which embraces openness …show more content…

The appreciation of equality as one of the founding values of the Constitution of South Africa emphasizes the significance of distributive justice and transformative constitutionalism in post-colonial states. It furthermore highlights the everlasting nature of the constitutional project of providing equality and casts the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa as an inspirational document that platforms the foundation of distributive justice between different social groups. For that reason, the idea of equality lies at the heart of the concept of transformative …show more content…

The idea of equality is a norm of great significance and is one of the founding values of the South African Constitution. To prevent inequalities between different categories of persons, the Constitution provides that ‘[e]veryone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law’ .
In South Africa vast inequality carries on to exist in relation to the access to education. At present, the importance of equalising access to education is very strong, and although these should not go to the degree of overruling constitutionally protected rights in regards to language and culture, they do signify an important aspect in the equation. The subject matter of reducing the discrepancies in the life chances of all South Africans runs throughout the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa; from the powerful opening words of the introduction to the reminder of the

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