INTRODUCTION

In this short paper I shall start by highlighting one of the single-most difficult challenges faced by practitioners in enforcing socio-economic rights through the courts: the challenge of legitimacy. The challenge is due in large part to the weariness with which the other branches of government and some sectors of the public view such an exercise. That introduction will be followed by a short exposition on the place of international law within the South African Constitutional dispensation, specifically the interpretation of section 39(1) (b), which is that section which enjoins courts, tribunals or forums to consider international law when interpreting the Bill of Rights. The presentation concludes with a consideration of how international law was employed in the landmark case of Grootboom . In view of the nature of the challenge, the theme of my presentation is that: the use of international law in litigating socio-economic rights has a purpose beyond the obvious one of strengthening one's argument with international authorities; it also serves the purpose of ‘legitimating' the end result.

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