MOKGORO J
[69]
In President of the Republic of South Africa and Another v Hugo71
Goldstone J stated that:
“At the heart of the prohibition of unfair discrimination lies a recognition that
the purpose of our new constitutional and democratic order is the
establishment of a society in which all human beings will be accorded equal
dignity and respect regardless of their membership of particular groups. The
achievement of such a society in the context of our deeply inegalitarian past
will not be easy, but that that is the goal of the Constitution should not be
forgotten or overlooked.
...
To determine whether that impact was unfair it is necessary to look not only
at the group who has been disadvantaged but at the nature of the power in
terms of which the discrimination was effected and, also at the nature of the
interests which have been affected by the discrimination.”
[70]
Citizenship is not a ground of differentiation that is specified in section
9(3) of the Constitution. In Hoffmann v South African Airways this Court held
that “at the heart of the prohibition of unfair discrimination is the recognition
that under our Constitution all human beings, regardless of their position in
society, must be accorded equal dignity.”72 To be considered an analogous
ground of differentiation to those listed in section 9(3) the classification must,
therefore, have an adverse effect on the dignity of the individual, or some other
comparable effect.73
71
1997 (4) SA 1 (CC); 1997 (6) BCLR 708 (CC) at paras 41-3.
72
2001 (1) SA 1 (CC); 2000 (11) BCLR 1211 (CC) at para 27.
73
Above n 71 at para 52.
43
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