Reasonableness, subsidiarity and service delivery: A case discussion

Abstract

Since the Constitutional Court’s groundbreaking decision in Government of the Republic of South Africa v Grootboom, there have been a number of judgments in which the Court has expanded on its obligations in terms of section 26 and 27 of the Constitution. The most striking from all the decisions interpreting socio-economic rights was the development of the so-called reasonableness test, which measures government’s action or inaction in fulfilling its constitutional obligations, and the rejection of attaching the so-called minimum core content to socio-economic rights.