Limitations to Justice: The Right to Housing and Pprescription in the Seraleng Community

This paper argues that access to socio-economic rights is vital for the realization of justice, especially for the previously disadvantaged people of South Africa. The right to housing as envisaged in the Constitution of South Africa is a basic human right that the democratic government of South Africa codified after the exclusion of Black people from accessing the right in the past Apartheid era. This paper looks at the right to adequate housing, considering the Seraleng community. The Seraleng community is a mining community in the Northwest province of South Africa whose rights to housing have been unfairly limited by the multinational corporation Anglo-American. The right to adequate housing means that the houses that the states build for people are in a habitable state. This paper then looks at the failed promise of the state to provide adequate housing in the Seraleng community in line with their constitutional obligations. This failure is because the houses that the government and Anglo-Americans built, over time, started showing cracks and are slowly becoming uninhabitable. Neither the municipality nor the Anglo are providing any recourse for the community. The justice system is also not able to assist, as the matter is said to have prescribed in court. This paper then argues that the prescription of the matter and the inaction from Anglo-America or the municipality infringe on the community’s right to housing and hinder the community from accessing justice. This infringement is further not in the spirit of the development of the village, as housing plays a crucial role in development.