This dissertation is an investigation of the conditions that would bring about the legal
enforcement of the right to access sufficient food in South Africa as premised on the
Constitution. This is motivated by the fact that modern-society has seen a gradual increase
in the occurrence of socio-economic rights being protected through the legal opportunity
structure of countries, ultimately leading to public interest litigation.
At present, the right to food is being violated in South Africa. Taking into account the ambit
of the constitution and several international instruments that speak to its realisation and
the fact that there has been litigation on other socio-economic rights, suggesting that tools
for litigation are in place, it is perplexing that right to food litigation has not taken place.
The research question of this paper is therefore: which factors and conditions would have to
be present for there to arise public interest litigation on the right to food in South Africa?
Due to the fact that literature on right to food litigation is almost non-existent, especially for
the African context, this is an explorative case study. The dissertation utilises an analytical
framework to study the prospect of litigation on the right to food becoming a reality. The
study is largely theory-driven, relying on various sources of evidence: secondary literature,
conducted-research and official state documents speaking to the countries right to food
narrative.