Combating Poverty, Homelessness and Socio-Economic Vulnerability under the Constitution
Page Image
Page Content
Combating Poverty, Homelessness and
Socio-Economic Vulnerability under the
Constitution
More than 16 years since the advent of a new political dispensation in South Africa, poverty and inequality continue to threaten the stability of the country and the consolidation of democracy.
Large sections of the population are still being excluded from full participation in the economy and society despite the fact that South Africa’s 1996 Constitution and Bill of Rights seek to correct the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Law supports the Constitutional ideal of using the legal system to achieve the required transformation.
It has embarked on an initiative to promote greater socio-economic justice through law. The project, Combating Poverty, Homelessness and Socio-Economic Vulnerability under the Constitution, aims to train a new generation of lawyers equipped to use the law to help people realise their socio-economic rights; do research on how the law can be used more effectively to empower disadvantaged citizens, and to augment the assistance provided to marginalised communities by the Stellenbosch University Legal Aid Clinic.
The project concentrates mainly on the rights and institutional mechanisms created under the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. However, research is also being done on how comparative law and international norms and standards can be invoked to respond to developmental challenges being faced elsewhere in Africa.