Constitution’s global links

I am not sure whether Business Day editor Lukanyo Mnyanda was proposing that human rights and the values contained in our Constitution are universal or if they are “central in defining his identity as an African” (Irish abortion vote shows SA’s progress, May 28).

He is right that when the Brits talk of “British values” it is nonsensical exceptionalism, but then so is talk of ubuntu. There is nothing exceptional in either of these concepts; the former refers to fairness (which is another way of saying each person has equal rights under the law to be treated in a nondiscriminatory way) and the latter to the human virtues of compassion and humanity (which though lacking globally in urban society are still found in any village or small town community).

Notwithstanding the failures to implement the more ambitious provisions of our Constitution, it remains a proud achievement and, as the writer implied, makes the recent referendum in Ireland appear somewhat Stone Age. However, it was not a product of Africa but inspired by the philosophy of Rechtsstaat and the Rule of Law, derived mainly from the Canadian, German and to some degree the US constitutions. In the African context SA’s Constitution remains exceptional.

Sydney Kaye Cape Town