Abstract:
In December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal (‘SCA’) in its judgment
in the case of Minister of Basic Education v Basic Education
for All held that every learner is entitled to a textbook in every
subject at the commencement of the academic year. This article
discusses and analyses the judgment. In particular, it examines the
contribution of the judgment to the doctrine of transformative
constitutionalism as evidenced by the SCA’s approach to the interpretation
of the rights to basic education and equality, respectively.
It discusses the reaffirmation of the principle of the duty to
budget in South Africa’s evolving socio-economic rights jurisprudence
and finally it discusses the choice of remedy in the
judgment.
