South Africa, along with many countries across the globe, is adopting far-reaching measures to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. These have entailed many restrictions on fundamental civil and political liberties such as freedom of movement, assembly and association, as well as privacy and freedom of expression.
In a public health disaster such as the pandemic, these measures have the legitimate purpose of protecting public health. Provided that they fall within the terms of law and meet the requirements of reasonableness and proportionality, such measures will be considered justifiable limitations of rights in terms of section 36 of the South African Constitution and international human rights treaties.
But what about socio-economic rights, which are also enshrined in South Africa's Bill of Rights as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which South Africa is a state party?
Access to goods and services needed
Like all human rights, socio-economic rights are premised on the notion that all human beings have inherent human dignity, and their lives and well-being are equally valuable. If we are to take these rights seriously, it means that all people should have access to the social and economic goods and services they need to live a dignified life and to participate equally in society. This, in turn, depends on having high quality, accessible public services such as healthcare, water and sanitation, housing support, education and social security, Prof. Sandra Liebenberg points out. She holds the HF Oppenheimer Chair in Human Rights Law in the Faculty of Law at SU.
Across the world, many public health systems and other public services have been weakened by under-resourcing and austerity measures, accelerated by the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. South Africa also has to cope with the historical backlogs of the colonial and apartheid eras, along with high unemployment rates and a struggling economy.
Access to resources remains key
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has expressed concern about significant budget cuts in the health, education and other public service sectors, and their impact on South Africa's already high levels of inequality as well as sectors relevant to socioeconomic service delivery. “Responding effectively to the Covid-19 pandemic will require a major channelling of additional human and financial resources to these under-resourced social and economic sectors", Liebenberg states.
First and foremost, a significant infusion of resources into the healthcare sector is required for testing, contact-tracing, safety equipment for medical personnel, intensive care beds and equipment, appropriate isolation and quarantine sites, the preparation and dissemination of health information, and vaccine research and administration (once one becomes available). It will, in all likelihood, require private healthcare resources such as critical care beds to be combined with public healthcare resources in a unified, comprehensive and coordinated response to the looming public health crisis.
In Spain and recently Iran, temporary power has been given to government authorities to take over the management of private healthcare facilities. A human rights-based approach to the right to health in a public health emergency requires the prioritisation of urgent health needs and the protection of the health of the public as a whole", Liebenberg says. “Neither of these objectives can be met if health resources are fragmented and divided."
Dealing with the legacy of apartheid spatial planning
Secondly, the recommended measures to limit the transmission of Covid-19, such as frequent handwashing with soap and implementing social distancing or isolation, are particularly difficult to implement in the context of overcrowded informal settlements and rural areas where many households still lack a regular and reliable piped water supply to their dwellings.
Moreover, the legacy of apartheid spatial planning has left many households reliant on overcrowded taxi and train transport where social distancing and contact tracing best-practice protocols are impossible to apply. “These realities require a range of targeted mitigating measures such as tanked water supplies, disinfecting programmes, additional public transport facilities to reduce overcrowding, and a massive public education and outreach campaign to prevent disinformation and dangerous stigmatisation of vulnerable groups'', Liebenberg says. “Some of these measures have already been adopted, but more must be done to shield the most disadvantaged communities from the impacts of this pandemic."
Thirdly, impoverished communities and the precariously employed (such as those on temporary contracts, outsourced workers, casual workers and the like) are particularly vulnerable as the economic impacts of the pandemic bite deeply. They will be the hardest hit by retrenchments and business closures, and by its ripple effect on dependants. Liebenberg emphasises: “As the Constitutional Court noted in the landmark Grootboom case, the poor are particularly vulnerable, and their needs require special attention.
“In the South African context, impoverished communities also bear the disproportionate burden of diseases such as HIV and TB, rendering them more vulnerable to serious health consequences should they be infected with the coronavirus'', she says.
Special measures needed to boost food and income security
Special measures are needed to boost food and income security in these communities. In terms of section 27 of the Disaster Management Act, the Minister of Trade and Industry may issue directions to protect consumers from excessive and unreasonable pricing of goods and services and to maintain the security and availability thereof during the national state of disaster. “These powers should be used to ensure the availability and affordability of food and other critical household goods such as soap and sanitary products'', Liebenberg says.
Upscaling of the provision of grants for the social relief of distress and food packages in terms of the Social Assistance Act of 2004 is also called for in the current circumstances. Other measures to ease the burden of the pandemic would include efforts to protect people from being evicted from their homes, particularly low-income families and those with children, elderly or disabled members.
“The closure of schools and universities will have a disproportionate impact on learners and students from impoverished families and communities", Liebenberg says. “As teaching and learning moves online, it is vital that urgent measures are taken to ensure that data is affordable and accessible to these groups so that online teaching does not aggravate the already deep educational inequalities."
Gendered burdens of care work
In the context of the closure of schools and the particular vulnerability of elderly persons and those with pre-existing health conditions, women will bear a heavy burden. This is due to gendered burdens of care work that falls disproportionately on their shoulders. Liebenberg says: “Both government and private employers need to be conscious of this reality and respond by adopting flexible workplace policies and support programmes particularly targeted to alleviating this burden. The coronavirus pandemic has illuminated the critical role of socio-economic rights in securing a dignified life for all and in countering social and economic inequalities."
Liebenberg concludes: “There is a silver lining to this dark cloud. It is the hope that the short-term efforts we now make to protect these rights in a crisis will translate into long-term public and private resource mobilisation for securing accessible, affordable and quality public goods and services for all."
* This article featured in the latest edition of Stellenbosch University (SU)'s multi-award winning publication Research at Stellenbosch University . Produced annually by SU's Division for Research Development (DRD), this flagship publication offers the national and international research community as well as other interested parties a comprehensive, yet accessible overview of innovative and interesting research being done at the institution.The theme of the edition is Research for Impact which is one of SU's core strategic themes from its Vision 2040 and Strategic Framework 2019–2024.
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