The Constitutional Right to Adequate Housing: What can Tanzania Learn from South Africa?
Keywords:
Constitution; Socio-Economic Rights; Housing; Reasonableness; Meaningful Engagement; Tanzania; South Africa
Abstract
This article aims to examine the possibility of incorporating the right to adequate housing as a fundamental right in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. Specifically, the article argues that the current strategy for protecting and fulfilling this right is ineffective and inefficient. This is due to the Constitution’s classification of the right under the so-called directive principles of state policy, rendering it unenforceable. The article acknowledges and addresses various critiques and perspectives that maintain that social and economic rights (SERs) are challenging to recognize as fundamental rights, complicating their judicial enforcement due to their intricate nature, content, and scope. On the other hand, the right to adequate housing is an example of those socio-economic rights that South Africa has successfully included in its Constitution. South Africa has also established a strong body of jurisprudence on the enforcement of such rights. In doing so, South Africa has demonstrated that SERs can indeed be recognized as fundamental rights and enforced in court. In light of South Africa's experiences in the protection of socio-economic rights including the right to adequate housing, this article explores the lessons that Tanzania can learn from South Africa, focusing on the reasonable and meaningful approaches adopted by the South African Constitutional Court in enforcing the right of access to adequate housing.
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Brennan M. (2009). “To Adjudicate and Enforce Socio-Economic Rights: South Africa Proves That Domestic Courts Are Viable Option” 9 Queensland University of Technology Law and Justice Journal 64.
Camarasa, A.P. (2016). “Implementation of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: Perspectives from Deliberative Democracy” 19 Trinity College Law Review 214.
Chenwi, L. (2015). “Implementation of Housing Rights in South Africa: Approaches and Strategies” 24 Journal of Law and Social Policy 68.
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Davis, D.M. (1992). “The Case against the Inclusion of Socioeconomic Demands in a Bill of Rights Except as Directive Principles” 8 South African Journal on Human Rights 475.
Dzamashvili B. (2015). “Socio-Economic Rights: Fundamental Rights or Directive Principles of State Policy?” Journal of Law 307
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Liebenberg, S. (2014). “Judicially Enforceable Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa: Between Light and Shadow” Dublin University Law Journal 166.
Liebenberg, S. (2014). “Participatory Approaches to Socio-Economic Rights Adjudication: Tentative Lessons from South African Evictions Law” 32 Nordic Journal of Human Rights 312.
Lindau D. (2012). “The Reality of Social Rights Enforcement” 54 Harvard International Law Journal 190.
Maina, C.P. (1997). Human Rights in Tanzania: Selected Cases and Materials Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
Mashiane, K. & Odeku, K.O. (2021). “Analysis of the Impediments to the Realisation of the Right to Access to Adequate Housing in South Africa’ Journal of Social Development on Africa 149
Mashiane, K. & Odeku, K.O. (2020). “Critical legal perspective on the context and content of the right to access to adequate housing in South Africa” 10 Juridical Tribune 90.
Mavedzenge A.J. (2020). “The right to life as an alternative avenue for the enforcement of the right to adequate housing in Zimbabwe” Stellenbosch Law Review 344.
Mavedzenge J.A. (2020). “Revisiting the Role of the Judiciary in Enforcing the State’s Duty to Provide Access to the Minimum Core Content of Socio-Economic Rights in South Africa and Kenya” 7(2) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 60.
Mosha, L.H. (2017). “Questioning the Concept of Affordable Housing – Affordable to Who in Tanzania?” 8 International Journal of Recent Scientific Research 16866, 16867.
Mubangizi, J.C. (2013). The Protection of Human Rights in South Africa: A Legal and Practical Guide 2nd Edition Cape Town: Juta & Co.
Mureinik, E. (1992). “Beyond a Charter of Luxuries: Economic Rights in the Constitution” 4 South African Journal on Human Rights 464.
Mwaikusa, J.T. (1991). “Genesis of the Bill of Rights in Tanzania” African Journal on International and Comparative Law 680.
O’Cinneide, C. (2015). “The Constitutionalization of Social and Economic Rights” in Garcia, H.A., Klare, K. & Williams, L.A. (eds) Social and Economic Rights in Theory and Practice: Critical Inquiries London: Routledge.
O’Neill O. (2005). “The Dark Side of Human Rights” International Affairs 421.
Pienaar J.M. (2011). “Access to housing in South Africa: An overview of dimensions and mechanisms” 36 Journal for Juridical Science 119.
Pieterse, M. (2022). “Towards a Right to the City? The Slow Convergence of Rights to Housing and Land in South African Constitutional Jurisprudence” 11 International Human Rights Law Review 36.
Qureshi W.A. (2018). “Stemming the Bias of Civil and Political Rights over Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights” 46(4) Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 289.
Rosenfeld M. (2021). “The Role of Justice in the Constitution: The Case for Social and Economic Rights in Comparative Perspective” 42 Cardozo Law Review 763.
Sepaha, P. (2023). Doctrinal and Non-doctrinal research. Law Colloquy, 3 November 2023.
Shivji I.G. Constitutional and Legal System of Tanzania: A Civics Sourcebook Dar-es-Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers.
Sihlangu, P. & Odeku K.O. (2004). “Critical Analysis of International and National Laws Redressing Past Apartheid Land Discrimination and Injustice in South Africa” (2021) 10(3) Perspectives of Law and Public Administration 308.
South African Human Rights Commission. (n.d.) “The Right to Adequate Housing Factsheet” at https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Fact%20Sheet%20on%20the%20right%20to%20adequate%20housing.pdf (accessed 18 March 2024).
Ssenyonjo M. (2009). Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law Bloomsbury Publishing
Sunstein C.R. (2001). Designing Democracy: What Constitutions Do Oxford University Press.
Tushnet, M. (2008). “Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law” Princeton University Press.
UN-Habitat. (2010) Informal Settlements and Finance in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/download-manager-files/Informal%20Settlements%20and%20Finance%20in%20Dar%20es%20Salaam%2C%20Tanzania.pdf (accessed 16 March 2024.
Viljoen, F. (2005). “National legislation as a source of justiciable socio-economic rights” 6 ESR Review 7.
Weis, L.K. (2017). “Constitutional Directive Principles” 37(4) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 928.
Wertman C.A. (2015). “There's No Place like Home: Access to Housing for All South Africans” 40 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 719.
World Bank. (n.d.) “Demographic Trends and Urbanization” at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/publication/demographic-trends-and-urbanization (accessed 12 March 2024).
World Bank. (n.d.) “Population living in slums (% of urban population) – Tanzania” https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZS?locations=TZ (accessed 15 March 2024).
World Bank Group. (2015). Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: Summary Report, Washington.
Yusuf, S. (2012). “The Rise of Judicially Enforced Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights-Refocusing Perspective” 10 Seattle Journal for Social Justice 753.
Published
2024-06-05
How to Cite
Mubangizi, J. C., & Danda, J. (2024). The Constitutional Right to Adequate Housing: What can Tanzania Learn from South Africa?. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review, 7(6), 132-149. https://doi.org/10.47814/ijssrr.v7i6.2174
Section
Main Articles
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