Socio-economic rights litigation as a means to engendering social change in South Africa: an introduction and context

Abstract

Millions of people in the world and especially in Africa are yet to be delivered from the scourge of poverty. „Over three billion people in the world live on less than $2.50 per day and more than 80% of the world‟s population are living in countries where income differentials are widening. About 1.1 billion people in developing countries lack access to clean water, one out of every three urban dwellers in the cities of developing countries are living in slum conditions and about 790 million people in the world are chronically undernourished‟. These statistics reveal the extent to which millions of people cannot access the very basic services needed for survival due to poverty.