Deciding non-constitutional matters of general public importance in South African law: can constitutional values be used?

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 is supreme. It can be used to assess the soundness of various policies and laws. This statement has however been challenged based on the apparent limited range of the provisions of the Constitution. The Bill of Rights enshrined in the Constitution comprises of dedicated rules intended to address certain issues. Owing to this supposed limitation, some have questioned the tag of supremacy attached to the Constitution. The article examines how the Constitutional Court has decided issues which did not raise clear constitutional questions to determine whether values could be used to decide various issues of law. This determination, similarly, informs whether constitutional values could be used to administer matters of general public importance that are not founded on clear constitutional questions.