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Rh circumstances and juvenile whipping, in general, only as a device to keep the juvenile out of prison.

The structure and content of Chapter 3 suggests a two-stage enquiry. The first stage is concerned with establishing whether there is a violation of a right sought to be protected by the Constitution; this has been answered in the affirmative. The second leg of the enquiry deals with the question whether the violation constitutes a permissible limitation of the right in question. Section 33(1) of the Constitution provides:

"The rights entrenched in this Chapter may be limited by law of general application, provided that such limitation —

shall be permissible only to the extent that it is —

reasonable; and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on freedom and equality; and

shall not negate the essential content of the right in question, and provided further that any limitation to — a right entrenched in section 10, 11 … shall, in addition to being reasonable as required in paragraph (a)(i), also be necessary."

Applicants contended firstly, that the rights at issue were not capable of limitation and that section 33(1) of the Constitution was therefore not applicable. The implication of this proposition was that no further enquiry was called for once a violation of the right had been proved.

This argument raises an issue which this Court may have to confront in the future and that is the tension between threshold requirements and requirements of limitation. The issue has been raised in argument in other cases which have come before us. It is, however, not an issue which needs to be resolved in this case. In S v Makwanyane (supra) this court dealt with section 11(2) of the Constitution on the basis that section 33(1) is applicable to