On 2 March 2020, SECTION27 hosted a seminar on ‘Socio-economic rights litigation in the time of Austerity and State Capture’. The seminar was held to discuss the increasing austerity and incidence of state capture in South Africa, as well as the consequent threat of socio-economic rights retrogression.

Those who contributed at the seminar included leading economists, budget analysts, legal academics and practitioners, whether physically present at the seminar or attending through video conferencing from abroad.

The purpose of the seminar was to develop a better understanding of how public interest organisations should move forward in advocating for socio-economic rights – to, in the words of Faranaaz Veriava, “rethink some of our traditional legal repertoire to achieve socioeconomic justice”. A closer look at the way austerity works and presents itself was central. Coming into the seminar, some significant questions included how to challenge the neo-liberal narrative that austerity is both beneficial and necessary; how to use litigation to challenge austerity budgets; and what other avenues of anti-austerity legal advocacy could be explored.

Report by SECTION27