Browsing by Author "Mahomedy, Sameera"

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    The potential of meaningful engagement in realising socio-economic rights: Addressing quality concerns
    (2019-04) Mahomedy, Sameera; Liebenberg, Sandra; Botha, Henk; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Law. Dept. of Public Law.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT : The advent of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“the Constitution”) was a major milestone for South Africa in terms of redressing the atrocities of apartheid. While this has resulted in major developments, remnants of apartheid are still present and can be seen in the continuation of vast socio-economic inequalities. Access to housing and education still remains elusive to many South Africans, as indicated by the recent service delivery and higher education protests. Developing effective mechanisms for realising these rights is thus a high priority, including in the context of socio-economic rights litigation and adjudication. The doctrine of meaningful engagement developed by the Constitutional Court in housing and education rights cases offers a potentially innovative method for government, communities and other stakeholders to pursue the realisation of socio-economic rights. However, the potential of this participatory approach to socio-economic rights realisation remains contested, and its efficacy in practice has not yet been determined. A key challenge to its efficacy in realising the normative commitments of socioeconomic rights concerns the quality of the engagement that occurs between organs of state and various stakeholders. In light of the above, this thesis investigates the role that the quality of meaningful engagement plays in enhancing its efficacy as a mechanism to realise socio-economic rights. The thesis examines the justifications posited for using meaningful engagement as well as the importance of quality in achieving these justifications. Evaluative criteria for assessing the quality of engagement are developed. In addition to evaluating the quality of meaningful engagement in South Africa’s housing and education rights jurisprudence, the thesis examines meaningful engagement in an extra-judicial context, focusing on the #FeesMustFall Movement. The thesis concludes by making recommendations on how the quality of meaningful engagement could be improved, drawing on diverse theoretical literature pertaining to participatory democracy and critical theory.