The right to development, transformative constitutionalism and radical transformation in South Africa: Post-colonial and de-colonial reflections

Abstract

This article suggests that currently insufficient theorisation exists of what should constitute radical transformation in South Africa and whether the discourse on transformative constitutionalism and the right to development are capable of living up to the expectations of radical transformation. The point of departure should be radical transformation which in turn must inform the content of both transformative constitutionalism and the right to development. The central question that the article explores is whether the notion of transformative constitutionalism, read in conjunction with and as the concretisation of the right to development, has the capacity to bring about radical transformation in South Africa.