structural:reformatting, quality:correction
Judgment

There was an evident overlap, the court found, between the rights created by sections 26 and 27 and those conferred on children by section 28. This overlap was not consistent with the notion that section 28(1)(c) created separate and independent rights for children and their parents. Section 28 as a whole ensured that children were properly cared for by their parents or families, and that they received appropriate alternative care in the absence of family or parental care; it also encapsulated the conception of the scope of care that children were to receive in society. Through legislation and the common law, the obligation to provide shelter in subsection (1)(c) was imposed primarily on the parents or family and only alternatively on the State. The subsection therefore did not create any primary State obligation to provide shelter on demand to parents and their children if the children were being cared for by their parents or families. The State did, however, have to provide the legal and administrative infrastructure necessary to ensure that children were accorded the protection contemplated by section 28. Its obligation in this regard would normally be fulfilled by passing laws creating enforcement mechanisms for the maintenance of children, their protection from maltreatment, abuse, neglect or degradation and other forms of abuse, and in addition providing families with access to land, adequate housing and services.