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[File Image]: The Constitutional Court.
Former Constitutional Court Justice, Albie Sachs has described the Apex Court as a shining example of integrity, intelligence and humanity.
Sachs was speaking ahead of an event being held today at the court in Johannesburg to celebrate 30 years since its establishment.
Government must take progressive measures to realise the right in available resources.
In reflecting on the three decades of the court’s work and judgments, Sachs says it intervened at times of exceptional importance for the country, making the example of the controversy around the provision of anti-retrovirals in the early 2000s.
“Women living with HIV about to give birth and they can’t get no iropine and the doctors order it, it’s being provided free, they want it and government is sticking and saying, no, no, no – we have to get experience for two years. People come to court, and we say, our constitution says everyone has the right of adequate health care. Government must take progressive measures to realise the right in available resources. It’s a right and it transforms South Africa. Our people were dying – thousands everyday and we created the biggest anti-retroviral programme in the world because of the constitution, because of the court.”
Constitutional Court celebrates 30th anniversary
