There will have to be “economic inclusion for all" to help the fight for social justice in South Africa.
This was emphasised by Judge President Dennis Davis when he delivered the Inaugural Annual Social Justice Lecture in Stellenbosch last week. The lectured formed part of Stellenbosch University's celebration of World Social Justice Day (20 February 2020). Davis spoke on the topic, “Social Justice and Economic Inclusion: Where to South Africa?"
“The issue of social justice is coupled to that of economic exclusion. There can be little doubt that existing patterns of poverty and inequality threaten the possibility of continued democracy and the stability of the South African state. A fresh set of ideas has to be implemented to ensure the vindication of the promise of redistribution and achieving the values and goals of the constitution," said Davis.
During his lecture, Davis also called on South Africans to have an honest debate about an electoral system which can “enhance rather than impede" a fundamental principle which promotes social justice, political and economic inclusion.
The Inaugural Annual Social Justice Lecture is hosted by Prof Thuli Madonsela, the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice in the Faculty of Law at Stellenbosch University (SU), who aims to raise awareness while advancing scholarship and deepening jurisprudence on social justice.
The lecture is part of various activities of the social Justice Chair and her extensive Social Justice M-Plan (Mosa-Plan for Social Justice), launched in 2018. The Social Justice M-Plan is a social justice accelerator programme that aims to catalyse the process of ending poverty and equalising life opportunities by 2030 as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP) read with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Davis also praised Madonsela's M-Plan and the work that she has done in the fight for social justice in the country, but warned that finding solutions could not only be “passed on to elaborate think tanks" and those in powerful positions.
“We owe it to our children, and future generations to all work together, developing a democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom for all who live in this land."
MORE ABOUT JUDGE DENNIS DAVIS
Judge Dennis Davis was educated at Herzlia School, Universities of Cape town (UCT) and Cambridge. He began teaching at UCT in 1977 and was appointed to a personal chair of Commercial Law in 1989. Between 1991 and 1997 he was Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies of the University of the Witwatersrand. He held joint appointment at Wits and UCT 1995–1997.
He was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 1998 and as President of the Competition Appeal Court in 2000. Since his appointment to the Bench, he has continued to teach constitutional law and tax law at UCT where he is a Honorary Professor of Law.
Davis is a member of the Commission of Enquiry into Tax Structure of South Africa and was a Technical Advisor to the Constitutional Assembly where the negotiations for South Africa's interim and final constitutions were formulated and concluded. Between 1993 and 1998, he hosted the award-winning current affairs TV programme, Future Imperfect.
He has been a visiting lecturer/professor at the Universities of Cambridge, Florida, Toronto and Harvard.
Photos by Henk Oets.
