Socio-economic inequality is deeply rooted in Zimbabwe due to a number of factors. One of the
main factors is the exclusion of socio-economic rights as justiciable under the now repealed
Lancaster House Constitution (LHC). A plethora of excessive bureaucratic actions in a number of
instances left many people stranded without the recourse to the law particularly without
protection by the Constitution. To correct this historic anomaly the 2013 Constitution was
enacted. The 2013 Constitution protects both civil and political rights and socio-economic
rights in the same way as justiciable rights. This provides the highest degree of
interdependence and interrelatedness of all rights in the domestic legal order. In order to
ensure that socio-economic rights are effectively protected and enforced this study identifies
and discusses the framework for protecting socio-economic rights under the 2013 Constitution.
Firstly the specific rights protected under the Constitution and the obligations imposed by
these rights are presented. Secondly the role of the courts in the protection of
socio-economic rights is discussed. Further some of the major conceptual and practical
challenges that are likely to arise in the adjudication of socio-economic rights are
identified. In this regard the study attempts to present solutions meant to overcome the
conceptual and practical challenges that are faced in the enforcement of socio-economic rights.
Furthermore this study argues that strictly adopting one of the two models of review namely
either the reasonableness approach as adopted by South African courts or the minimum core
approach as expounded by the United Nations Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights
(CESCR) will inhibit the proper enforcement of the protected rights. Therefore courts should
consider adopting an integrated model that includes both approaches to ensure that
socio-economic rights are effectively protected and realised.
