Cooperative Governance in Education: Challenges Inhibiting Social Justice Realisation

Abstract

The Constitution calls for past injustices to be corrected and for the establishment of a socially just society. This call is rooted in both the vision of transformative constitutionalis and the government’s constitutional duty to promote sustainable development.3 South Africa’s commitment to establishing a society based on social justice translates into a mandate that is government’s responsibility to implement. As the South African government comprises three distinct, independent, and interrelated spheres (national, provincial, and local),4 as well as organs of state (for purposes of this article, public schools),5 this mandate automatically becomes a shared mandate, which should be carried out within a cooperative framework.