Critical overview of the application of the default system in South Africa's matrimonial property regimes

Abstract

Equality, human dignity and freedom are the bedrock on which the South African democracy stands firm. The Constitution outlaws unfair discrimination and guarantees every person in this country equality before the law and the right to the equal protection and benefit of the law. But equality cannot, and does not, mean only equality on paper or in theory. That is simply not good enough. Promoting and achieving equality- and, indeed, the other human rights protected in the Bill of Rights- requires an acute awareness of the lived realities of people's lives. One of these realities is that many people in South Africa are unable to enforce their legal rights because they do not know what these rights are, what they mean in practice and how to protect them. The South African Constitution' provides that everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law.' Section 9(3) provides that everyone has the right not to be unfairly discriminated against on the grounds of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic and social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age disability, religion, conscience belief, culture, language and birth.4 Statutes have been adopted, limited and extended to ensure that the laws align with the rights entrenched in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.