Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v Grootboom and Others 2000 (11) BCLR 1169 (CC)

Access our heads of arguments.

CLC jointly intervened with the South African Human Rights Commission as amici curiae. Critical issues relating to the interpretation and judicial enforcement of right to adequate housing and children's rights to shelter were involved in this case.

The applicants, who included children, were squatters. They had moved on to a vacant private land because the living conditions in their original place of abode were intolerable. The owner then obtained a court order to evict them from the private land. In the course of the eviction, their building structures and materials were demolished and totally destroyed. To camp on a sports field in the surrounding area was the only available option to the applicants. These circumstances prompted them to approach the High Court in Cape Town for redress, asking that Government provide them with adequate basic shelter or housing until they secured permanent accommodation. They were granted relief on the basis of the right of children to shelter in s 28(1)(c) of the Constitution.

The Government appealed against this judgment to the Constitutional Court. It was at this stage that CLC intervened. A comprehensive written brief was filed with the Court, which was supplemented by an oral address. Mr. Geoff Budlender of the Constitutional Litigation Unit of the Legal Resources Centre represented CLC and the SA Human Rights Commission in this intervention. In the judgment, which has far reaching implications on the enforceability of socio-economic rights, the contribution of the amici curiae was positively acknowledged.