Equality and freedom in South Africa: creating a democratic paradox?

Abstract

South Africa’s democratic transformation from authoritarian rule to a constitutional democracy was a dramatic legal revolution that signalled the end of parliamentary sovereignty and its replacement by a supreme constitution. This adoption of a supreme constitution, including a bill of rights to protect individual rights, for the first time formally indicated the presence of a constitutional state in South Africa. The “legal revolution” had a direct influence on the way democracy would be defined and applied in the future. However, the emphasis in the Constitution on equality and freedom, in direct relation to democracy, may have created a potential paradox in the understanding and application of the concept in South Africa. This article investigates this potential paradox between equality and freedom in the application of democracy in South Africa.