DEFINING THE LIMITS OF PERMISSIBLE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA: HOFFMAN V. SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS [2000] 12 BLLR 1365.

Perhaps the most positive and exciting aftermath of the apartheid era is theconstruction of the new South Africa upon the foundation of a Constitutionand other legal instruments that are unanimous and unambiguous in tworespects. The first is in their proscription of unfair discrimination and the secondis in their permission of statutory and other measures aimed at eliminating theeffects of past discrimination on those groups of persons who were at the receivingend of same. The provisions of these instruments as well as their tenor andspirit reveal an unmistakable national resolve to break from a culture of racialdiscrimination to a constitutionally protected culture of human rights for SouthAfricans of all ages, classes and colours. Without doubt, the most important ofthose provisions is the equality clause of the Bill of Rights contained in thesecond chapter of the Constitution. This probably follows from a realization ofthe fact that equality is fundamental to “the maintenance and propagation ofhuman rights in a democratic body politic, particularly in an acutely dividedsociety” such as South Africa.