Staking a claim: law, inequality and the city in South Africa

ABSTRACT

The adoption of socio-economic rights in the post-apartheid constitution has given activists new tools to influence the development of economic policy. This article examines how – in the context of inequality and deprivation – urban communities, the residents of informal settlements, and civil society litigants have used these tools to reshape post-apartheid urban housing policy ‘from below’. It argues that this model of action provides a powerful example of popular work to combat widening inequality in the present conjuncture, operating to remake neoliberal state policy in a way that better responds to the experiences and needs of South Africa’s urban poor.

RÉSUMÉ

L’adoption de droits socio-économiques dans la Constitution post-apartheid a donné aux activistes de nouveaux outils pour influencer le développement de la politique économique. Cet article examine comment, dans un contexte d’inégalité et de privation, les communautés urbaines, les habitants des quartiers informels et les plaignants de la société civile ont utilisé ces outils pour remodeler la politique de logement urbain post-apartheid « par le bas ». Il soutient que ce modèle d’action fournit un exemple puissant de travail populaire pour combattre l’inégalité croissante dans la conjoncture actuelle, en opérant pour remodeler la politique néolibérale de l’État d’une manière qui réponde mieux aux expériences et aux besoins des pauvres urbains d’Afrique du Sud.

KEYWORDS:

• Inequality
• socio-economic rights
• urban tenure
• legal activism
• community activism
• socio-economic policy

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Inégalité
• droits socio-économiques
• tenure urbaine
• activisme juridique
• activisme communautaire
• politique socio-économique

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nkosinathi Sithole of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) and Stuart Wilson for helping me navigate the complexities of the legal terrain. An early version of this article was presented at the Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies, and I am very grateful for the feedback from colleagues and students in Paris during my fellowship there.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Court cases cited in the article

Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA and Another v Premier of the Province of Kwazulu-Natal and Others 2009 (3) BCLR 99 (CC) [‘Abahlali I’].

Abahlali baseMjondolo and Others v eThekwini Municipality and another 2015 (4) All SA 190 (KZD) [‘Abahlali II’]

Betta Eiendomme (Pty) Ltd v Ekple – Epoh 2000 (4) SA 468 (W)

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Blue Moonlight Properties 39 (Pty) Ltd and Another 2012 (2) SA 104 (CC)

Dladla and Others v City of Johannesburg and Another (Centre for Applied Legal Studies and Another as amici curiae) 2018 (2) SA 37 (CC)

Fischer v Unlawful Occupiers and Others 2018 (2) SA 228 (WCC)

Groengrass Eiendomme (Pty) Ltd v Elandsfontein Unlawful Occupants and Others 2002 (1) SA 125 (T)

Mchunu and Others v Executive Mayor, eThekwini Municipality and Others 2013 (1) SA 555 (KZD)

MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works of the Province of Kwazulu-Natal v eThekwini Municipality and others (3329/2013, 9189/2013) 2015 4 All SA 190 (KZD)

Melani and Others v City of Johannesburg and Others 2016 (5) SA 67 (GJ)

Occupiers of 51 Olivia Road, Berea Township and 197 Main Street Johannesburg v City of Johannesburg and Others 2008 (3) SA 208 (CC)

Occupiers, Shulana Court, 11 Hendon Road, Yeoville, Johannesburg v Steele (102/09) 2010 (4) All SA 54 (SCA)

South African Human Rights Commission and Others v City of Cape Town and Others 2020 ZAWCHC 84

Zulu and Others v eThekwini and Others 2014 (4) SA 590 (CC)

Notes

1 A full list of cases cited in this article can be found at the end of the reference list.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julian Brown

Julian Brown is the author of South Africa’s insurgent citizens (Zed, 2015), The road to Soweto (James Currey, 2016), and the forthcoming Marikana: a people’s history (James Currey, 2022). His work focuses on the intersection of popular and emancipatory politics, the history of mass protest and socio-legal studies.