RRLLB81 Assignment 2 (QUALITY ANSWERS) Semester 2 2025 - THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC POLICY

This document contains workings, explanations and solutions to the RRLLB81 Assignment 2 (QUALITY ANSWERS) Semester 2 2025. For assistance whats-app us on 0.6.8..8.1.2..0.9.3.4... THE PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC POLICY Background Public policy analysis implies an estimation and examination of formulating, adopting, and implementing a principle or course of action intended to improve economic, social, or other public issues. The term ‘public policy’ is often used when describing what would be in the best interest of the community, considering the history of the society and its prospects. This philosophy seems to underpin the notion of public good in the true sense of the word. But, philosophically, how could an institution such as a court or a lawmaker capture the meaning of the term perfectly? How is it possible that an institution would know what is in the general interest of the community at large, particularly where people have different needs and aims? The adoption of the notion of public policy is intended to solve current and future problems. It should therefore be future oriented. Thus, the courts when referring to public policy refers to a policy that recognises the future and takes cognisance of the present and the past. In this sense, public policy should be shaped in a manner that weighs competing rights or interests and adopts measures that advance more compelling rights or interests. Can the idea of public policy be used to transform society and its laws? What would be an ideal concept of public policy in this constitutional dispensation? Provide your own understanding and opinion about public policy in a legal philosophy sense. Suggested reading material Cases Barkhuizen v Napier 2007 (5) SA 323 (CC) King v De Jager 2021 (4) SA 1 (CC) Books De Vos P and Freedman W (eds), South African Constitutional Law in Context (2nd edn, OUP 2021) Rautenbach C (ed), Introduction to Legal Pluralism in South Africa (6th edn, LexisNexis 2021) RRLLB81/103/2/2025 63 Legislation Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 Journal Articles Govender J and Reddy PS, ‘Failing the Public through Public Policy: A Review of the Local Government Experience in South Africa’ (2012) 5 African J of Public Affairs 69 Malapane M and Nyane H, ‘The Role of the Courts in the Public Policy Domain in South Africa’ (2023) 43 Obiter 713