Facing the Future : Substantive Equality Under the Spotlight

Transformation in South Africa is intimately bound up with a vigorous development of the principle of equality. However, as the second decade of the new democracy draws to a close, the challenges facing the equality principle are more complex than ever. Equality before the law, is far from sufficient to bring about the far-reaching social and institutional changes necessary to achieve true equality. In addition, the promise of substantive equality must be fulfilled. Yet there is still much debate as to what that promise entails and the best means to achieve it. The aim of this paper is to frame some of the key challenges facing the principle of substantive equality. Central to substantive equality is the recognition of the connection between status and disadvantage, where status refers to race, gender, disability or other prohibited ground, and disadvantage is concerned with socio-economic disadvantage. However, the power of this insight is matched by the challenges it raises. In addressing both status and socio-economic disadvantage within the vehicle of substantive equality, how is each to be formulated, and how should they interact? This paper considers three specific problematic issues which arise from this interaction: dignity, affirmative action and the link between status and poverty