ABSTRACT
This chapter theorises and contextualises the performance of rights in the city of Johannesburg. It explains a performative and place-bound approach to understanding legal rights, before canvassing theory on the so-called ‘right to the city’, which animates all urban rights struggles. Thereafter, the chapter traverses the history of the city of Johannesburg and explains the workings of its government – the Johannesburg Metropolitan Council. This is followed by an exposition of those rights in the South African Constitution that tend to be invoked in urban disputes, and of the constitutional judicial review powers of South African courts.
