CHASKALSON P “No one may be refused emergency medical treatment” and section 11 which stipulates “Everyone has the right to life.” [8] We live in a society in which there are great disparities in wealth. Millions of people are living in deplorable conditions and in great poverty. There is a high level of unemployment, inadequate social security, and many do not have access to clean water or to adequate health services. These conditions already existed when the Constitution was adopted and a commitment to address them, and to transform our society into one in which there will be human dignity, freedom and equality, lies at the heart of our new constitutional order. For as long as these conditions continue to exist that aspiration will have a hollow ring. [9] The constitutional commitment to address these conditions is expressed in the preamble which, after giving recognition to the injustices of the past, states: “We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to – Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; .... Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person”. 5