Citizens must take lead in ensuring Constitution’s values are held dear
• Unfinished agenda of social transformation is highlighted on Mandela Day by unsavoury slices of daily life in SA that show past injustices endure
The Mandela Day celebrations reminded us of the urgency of ensuring that the human rights values enshrined in our Constitution govern every aspect of our social relationships.
Three fragments capture the unfinished agenda of the transformation of SA to become a place where freedom, justice and the rule of law prevail.
The first fragment is the unfinished business of healing the wounds inflicted by apartheid forced removals on communities that have yet to find justice.
District Six Museum director Bonita Bennett reminded us at the dinner she hosted for the Mandela Elders 10-year anniversary celebrations that, unlike other museums, it has few items of value in monetary terms. The museum is a rich store of “absence” — keys to doors that no longer exist, fragments of broken crockery and above all the pain of broken hearts.
The second fragment is Khayelitsha. It is a place that is neither a real home nor a new home as the name suggests. It is a bleeding wound of discarded people abandoned on the periphery of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
Celebrating Mandela Day in Khayelitsha with about 100 girls aged between 12 and 16 laid bare the wounds of humiliation they suffer daily in this beloved country. Each shared their stories with tears and song about childhoods betrayed.
In their homes, where their parents cannot cope with the humiliation of poverty, domestic violence and gender-based violence are rife and go unpunished. In the streets and communities, where survival of the fittest is the rule, their local, provincial and national public representatives do little beyond feeding at the trough of abuse of public funds.
Their rights as citizens to basic public services are violated with impunity. In their schools abuse by fellow students and some teachers is a pain they have to endure while receiving inferior education and skills training.
The third fragment, which came to me through Youtube, is Xolobeni, on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape. The Amadiba community is battling to protect its land from the twin dangers of mining and road construction.
Australian mining company Mineral Commodities acquired mining rights for rare earth minerals from the dunes on this pristine shoreline, despite the community’s vocal public and legal challenge.
The South African National Roads Agency is rerouting the N2 national road to run close to the shoreline against all their objections. The Amadiba people see a direct link between mining and the highway construction.
Why do their roads remain unserviceable while their environment is damaged and graves desecrated without their voices being heard?
The irony is that as we celebrate Nelson Mandela as a champion of the rule of law by inspiring the 1996 Constitution and leading by example as SA’s first democratic president, we are yet to embrace his ideals.
The rule of law in its affirmation reduces corruption, combats poverty and disease, and protects people from injustices large and small. It is a foundation for communities of peace, opportunity and equity, underpinning development, accountability in government and respect for fundamental rights.
It is particularly disappointing that private sector actors such as KPMG, McKinsey and other multinationals are implicated in undermining the rule of law, according to the leaked Gupta e-mails.
The tragedy is that globally respected brand names are embroiled in allegations of undermining procurement procedures, as in the case at Eskom where McKinsey teamed up with Trillian Capital, enabling them to be rewarded with R450m of taxpayers’ money for no value added.
One does not expect multinational investors, who require security of contracts and assurance that arbitrary exercise of power and impunity would not be permissible, to undermine the very rules designed to protect their interests.
So what is to be done? The Constitution’s drafters were wise and alert to the reality that constitutions do not change embedded values and cultural practices. Citizens — We the People — need to make the investments to establish a value system of human rights, social justice and the rule of law.
In 2000 Kader Asmal, one of the Constitution’s drafters and a former minister of education, prophetically said: “There cannot be a nation [or] democracy unless our education and processes of knowledge production and utilisation actively internalise values of equity, tolerance, multilingualism, openness, accountability and honour.
“There must be a bond that holds the parts together. This is a big task ahead to develop the values on which our democracy is being constructed and on which our future depends.
“Values cannot simply be asserted; it will require enormous effort to ensure that values are internalised by all our people, by institutions, and by our laws and policies.”
As we close off our Mandela Day celebrations this month, could we give a thought to how each of us can begin the enormous task Asmal laid out for us? It begins with acknowledgment
THIS IS A BIG TASK AHEAD TO DEVELOP THE VALUES ON WHICH OUR DEMOCRACY IS BEING CONSTRUCTED
that our legacy of colonial conquest, apartheid and liberation struggle politics has left us wounded and scarred.
We need to find ways of healing ourselves from the cycles of humiliation, abuse and more humiliation that continue. Healing through conversations infused with the desire to reestablish our connectedness as human beings in the spirit of ubuntu is an essential step.
Our homes, streets, schools, places of worship and working spaces across the nation, in both public and private sectors, need to become sites of healing conversations. The establishment of the bond that can hold us together as “We the People” would be enabled by the internalisation of the values we assert in our Constitution. The most obvious starting place is values-based civic education in our life orientation school curriculum, youth programmes in faith-based organisations and nongovernmental organisations, and personal development programmes in workplaces in the public and private sectors.
Leaders across the nation need to embrace these efforts and model the desired outcomes.
We have to tackle this task urgently in order to arrest the decline into the depths of impunity in corruption, nepotism and erosion of public trust.
Each one of us can contribute to this task wherever we are. Ours must be a focus on enabling the citizen of the future to emerge from our ugly past.
Ramphele is a global ambassador of Re-imagineSA.