Economics of Non-Profit Accounting

Case Notes: Sub-Saharan Africa

The International Journal
of Not-for-Profit Law

Volume 5, Issue 1, September 2002

South Africa

Ngxuza v The Permanent Secretary, Department of Welfare, Eastern Cape (ECD) 2001 (2) 609.

The Legal Resource Centre sought permission from the High Court to act on behalf of four social welfare recipients seeking reinstatement of grants that had been terminated unfairly by the Eastern Cape provincial welfare department.  The court granted the LRC permission to pursue a class action under section 38 of the Constitution, which permits actions on behalf of a class or in the public interest.  The court stated that “making it easier for disadvantaged and poor people to approach the courts on public issues to ensure that public administration adheres to the fundamental constitutional principle of legality in the exercise of public power serves our new democracy well.”  PB