Incrementalism in the South African Legal System: Socioeconomic Rights and the Judiciary

Abstract The South African Bill of Rights expressly provides citizens with the socioeconomic rights to housing, health care, and education. As a constitutional issue, the economic and administrative difficulties in delivering these rights have been addressed as a subject of the courts. Increased access is the legal prescription for socioeconomic rights achievement. This article explores case law evidence for a different way in which judicial interpretation expands these rights. I have termed this, incrementalism: the progressive realization of the right through its components.