Constitutional Bases of Social Rights in South African States and Their Compliance with Generally Accepted International Standards

This chapter is devoted to the analysis of constitutional provisions on social rights in the states of South Africa (according to the UN classification—Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini [Kingdom of Swaziland] and South Africa, as well as geographically adjacent territories: Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar) in the context of their compliance with generally recognized international standards contained in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the 1996 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other international organizations. The main conclusions that were drawn from the study: 1. The most economically developed state in the considered region is the Republic of South Africa (South Africa or RSA), which is a member of more than 50 international organizations, including the Non-Aligned Movement, (British) Cooperation and BRICS. 2. A distinctive feature of the constitutions of the South African countries is that mainly they do not contain provisions on the system of social rights supported by internationally recognized documents or only include some parts of it (e.g., pension provision in Zambia, Botswana and the Kingdom of Swaziland). 3. The existence of administrative (public) services and traditional institutions designed to carry out functions in the field of health care, education, culture and social security indicates the desire of South African states to build a socially oriented state, but these are only the first steps toward the implementation of the system of international standards at the national level.