Sharon Ekambaram argues that the Constitution confers rights on everyone within South Africa’s borders and as such human dignity has no nationality. Hers is a call to action agaist xenophobic vigilantism and the betrayal of ubuntu.

In observance of World Environmental Day, African Law Matters invites you to contribute to a special blog series.

In this week’s contribution, Yvonne reflects on the gap between the constitutional right to food and the lived realities of hunger and food insecurity in South Africa. Drawing on submissions made to the National Inquiry into the Food Systems of South Africa conducted by the South African Human Rights Commission, the article explores the structural causes of food insecurity, including inadequate wages, corporate concentration in the food system, unequal land ownership, and weaknesses in social protection. The piece also considers the legal and policy gaps that continue to undermine the realisation of the right to food, and calls for stronger accountability, improved enforcement, and more coordinated governance responses. 

In this week’s post, Thato Gaffane reflects on the Stilfontein tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of more than 80 miners, as well as the deliberate starvation and dehydration of many others at Buffelsfontein Gold Mine (BGM) in Stilfontein, North West. Gaffane highlights that this unfortunate incident was caused by improper mine closure, despite the existence of a legal framework that imposes clear and enforceable duties to plan, fund, and implement mine closure.