Realising Inclusive Basic Education Under Article 16 of the African Disability Protocol: Implications for South Africa

The entry into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (African Disability Protocol or ADP) in 2024 marks a significant development in the regional protection of disability rights. Its significance lies not only in reaffirming existing international standards, but in contextualising disability rights within Africa's socio-economic and cultural realities. Building on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Protocol situates disability rights within African value systems. This article examines Article 16 of the African Disability Protocol, which guarantees the right to education of persons with disabilities. It considers the significance of this provision for the realisation of inclusive basic education in South Africa. Although section 29(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa guarantees every child the right to basic education, implementation remains constrained. These constraints include fragmented institutional responsibility, weak enforceability, persistent structural exclusion and attitudinal barriers. Using a doctrinal methodology, the article analyses how Article 16 gives regional legal content to the CRPD's universal principles and evaluates South Africa's constitutional, legislative and policy framework against these standards. The article argues that the persistent exclusion of children with disabilities in South Africa is not the result of normative absence, but rather a disjuncture between constitutional guarantees, policy-based governance and implementation capacity. It further contends that Article 16 of the African Disability Protocol provides a regionally grounded benchmark capable of strengthening the legal enforceability and substantive content of inclusive education. The article concludes by proposing implementation pathways through legislative reform, institutional coordination and rights-based mechanisms.