ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the use of legal rights by marginalised residents of Johannesburg in efforts to resist or transcend their marginalisation. After considering the everyday realities of marginalised lives in Johannesburg, as well as enactments of the ‘right to the city’ within marginalised city spaces, the chapter critically assesses three broad strands of jurisprudence: equality jurisprudence (with a focus on challenges pertaining to the rights of non-nationals), decisions eking out a right to urban public presence, and decisions vindicating a right to livelihood. Throughout, the emphasis is on the complicity of law and legal rights in creating and sustaining marginality.
