Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Economist, activist and UNRISD Board member Imraan Valodia joins UNRISD Senior Research Coordinator Isabell Kempf to unpack South Africa's political vision for addressing historical injustices after apartheid. Focusing on the post-apartheid constitution, which guarantees comprehensive human rights and socio-economic rights, they explore the need for and impact of measures aimed at historical redress and redistribution in the face of the country’s extreme inequalities and how, despite remarkable progress, these have fallen short in some respects. Imraan highlights the importance of political systems in enabling or limiting the possibilities of constitutional change such as that South Africa experienced, pointing out that this bears important lessons for social contract processes in other parts of the world.
Economist, activist and UNRISD Board member Imraan Valodia joins UNRISD Senior Research Coordinator Isabell Kempf to unpack South Africa's political vision for addressing historical injustices after apartheid. Focusing on the post-apartheid constitution, which guarantees comprehensive human rights and socio-economic rights, they explore the need for and impact of measures aimed at historical redress and redistribution in the face of the country’s extreme inequalities and how, despite remarkable progress, these have fallen short in some respects. Imraan highlights the importance of political systems in enabling or limiting the possibilities of constitutional change such as that South Africa experienced, pointing out that this bears important lessons for social contract processes in other parts of the world.
