Upright people give meaning to institutions
(24) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (27) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” This is an extract from Matthew 7:24-27 English Standard Version (ESV). It is a parable I have heard many times over, and I am convinced the majority of South Africans have come across it at one point or another.
It points out the importance of a solid foundation for possibly any structure. Builders also attest to this. They say if a building has a poor foundation, it will form cracks which will later ruin it.
We often call our constitution the founding document of South Africa. In this sense, it is the one document we expect all of us to rally around. But also, its status says something about its importance as a foundation for this nation. This is why, those who care about South Africa often point to it.
It is a constitution which has been hailed as an exemplary document the world over. While this may not exactly testify to its solidity, it does suggest that we have created something admirable right here.
It is still questionable what evidence is required to testify to the the solidity of a constitution. This may require testing to see whether it covers all areas which need a constitution to address.
It may require assessing the supporting institutions of the constitution and their own solidity. It may require assessing the results which emanate from the actions and institutions, protections and interventions which emanate from the constitution. It may also require assessing what the constitution itself is able to do when it is challenged, or when attempts to amend it are on the cards.
Perhaps, this attempt, will show the extent to which the constitution has become a true founding document regarded as legitimate, understood and accepted by all South Africans.
However, having said that, the constitution is given life by those who carry the mandate to protect it, interpret it and act on it. So while it may be expected that the constitution would be a living document, it gets its life from the people who carry the mandate to engage it, explain it, protect it, and point the nation to it.
In other words the failure of a constitution in these very rudimentary tests mentioned above may in fact not be the failure of the constitution, but the failure of those mandated to carry it.
It is this realisation which is persuading me to think differently about the constitution. Perhaps, the constitution is the blueprint of our society. Perhaps it is the people who carried noble ideas gallantly through their lives before us who are the foundation. These are people like Mama Zondeni Sobukwe, may her soul rest in peace. And we, the living, are the building blocks.
Often we simply assume that people are the beneficiaries, because shelter is made for people. But the people who are the beneficiaries of what we are building now, through being self-building blocks, are our children.
When they become of age, they too will be the building blocks for those who come after them. After all, the house we are building is a living house, inspired by a living blue print!
But in our haste to build, we may have failed to recognise the solid rocks on which this nation is built, or what made them solid in the first place.
We often only pay lip service to the great departed, while learning little from them! We ignore the all important societal role of producing quality nation building blocks; the selfless, ethical and upright people who give life to all human institutions.
As a result in spite of a great blue print, the blocks are brittle and crumbling. It’s not too late though if we find the solid blocks and create new ones!
It [constitution] is the one document we expect all of us to rally around