ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the extent to which the Constitutional Court of South Africa can be said to have provided an 'institutional voice for the poor'! during the first decade ofits operation, from 1995 to 2004. We look at three aspects ofthe Court's record in particular: (1) decisions affecting the poor's ability to access the justice system; (2) the Court's social rights jurisprudence; and (3) cases in which members of previously advantaged groups have challenged the constitutionality of pro-poor legislation or policies. In respect of each of these areas, we consider whether the principles and rules developed by the Court have tended to enhance or reduce its capacity to be used as an institutional voice by the poor. We then attempt to answer the more controversial question whether the Court might have taken a different path in these cases, both as a matter of doctrine and in relation to the political context in which it found itself.