We have taken a step closer to the tipping point

SINCE the events during the state of the nation address last week, many people have been preoccupied with whether we as a country “crossed the Rubicon”. Some were concerned we had reached a “tipping point”.

Of course, life is more exciting lived in single moments of heightened drama and emotion rather than trends or events occurring within larger contexts that dilute the drama. But recent history has told us that our biggest disasters or collapses are not the result of a single moment, but a series of events, trends in behaviour and failures in action. Among the most dramatic moments in recent history in terms of collapses has been the “global financial crisis” and its effects, which are still felt today and may be with us for some time to come.

In an article in Vanity Fair magazine, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, reflecting on this crisis, writes: “Was there any single decision which, had it been reversed, would have changed the course of history? Every decision — including decisions not to do something, as many of our bad economic decisions have been — is a consequence of prior decisions, an interlinked web stretching from the distant past into the future.”

In our country, this has been our observed experience. There have been many moments in which we saw this in modest and more dramatic ways. From the unconstitutional removal of a president to private companies flagrantly subverting laws and politicians speaking lightly about not always observing the law and constitution in daily life.

In this context, it is important to note with emphasis that SA’s spectacular economic performance since the dawn of democracy was achieved in large part by the triumph of law and constitutionalism.

The so-called democracy dividend has been at play — a payoff that flows from the environment and the assurance, or at least the sense, that transparency and freedom from arbitrary rule or law making is consistently at play. It signalled to South Africans and their international counterparts that we live in a country of laws — a robust and open democracy.

In his book, The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, Judge Albie Sachs reflects on the importance of our practices as a democratic society of laws, and the importance of being seen so: “It is difficult to analyse the impact that court decisions have on actual historical events. It may well be that the publicity given to the case, and the evidence and arguments presented, had more impact on public life than did the actual decisions.

“Yet any amount of forensic combat, however bitter and prolonged, is better than a single bullet.”

Referring and reflecting on a difficult and highly debated case that had come before the Constitutional Court, he writes: “It reaffirmed to the South African public that we’re living in a constitutional democracy in which all exercises of power were subject to constitutional control.

“It said something important about the kind of country in which we lived, and about the importance of principled and seasoned debate. It underlined that we had moved from a culture of authority and submission to the law, to one of justification and rights under law.”

Such a moment, as described by Judge Sachs, among other moments we have seen in our nation’s legislature, was missed last week. Crisis and collapse never come in a single moment, but as a series of encroachments. Our best defence is to be diligent in living within the law.

Where it is difficult to do so, we have to make sure that we always observe “the importance of principled and seasoned debate”, knowing that the arguments presented may have more effect on public life than actual decisions.

We have to recognise that our system of government relies heavily on the rule of law and the principles behind our constitutional dispensation. We have to reaffirm these principles, especially when it is most challenging to do so because it assures and reassures all citizens and economic agents that their participation is assured and their interests are protected.

This regime has provided the foundation on which we built our economy, and on which we intend to achieve more — extending the gains and allowing more South Africans to participate and prosper. Strong and prospering economies are built on a legal system that works and is seen to work.

Our constitutional democracy, and the democracy dividend mentioned above, is critical but it has been shown to be on very shaky ground. Maybe we didn’t reach a tipping point last week, but that doesn’t matter. What is important is that we added to an “interlinked web stretching from the distant past into the future” — which is characteristic of all collapses.