All hail the reawakening of civil society EDITOR’S

CONSTITUTIONAL democracies all over the world stand or fall on the strength or weakness of their foundations and pillars.

South Africa, as a democracy where the rule of law reigns supreme, has the constitution as its rock-solid foundation. This country also has Parliament, an independent judiciary and media as its pillars.

The other important pillar in this mix is civil society. This is the collective of ordinary South Africans who come together and – driven by their love and commitment to their country – do a number of things in the public interest.

We have to applaud and support the work of civil society bodies such as Freedom Under Law (FUL), OUATA and Section 27, among others, who have taken it upon themselves to roll up their sleeves and do something about issues that affect the lives of South Africans.

FUL has approached the high court to have a single matter that threatens our democracy and rule of law resolved urgently. OUATA has taken up the cudgels on behalf of those who will be subjected to high toll fees when travelling on Gauteng freeways. Section 27 is fighting for the education of our children.

This week, in an act of selfless national service and in defence of our democracy, FUL went to court to have the decision on crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli set aside.

This came as many feared Mdluli would escape due process and not have to answer to charges of murder, fraud and corruption.

We should all acknowledge the activities of organisations such as these. Often ordinary people, especially the poor, feel intimidated by the state’s might.

When a flagrant violation of the law and human rights takes place, people feel helpless and vulnerable. And civil society needs to intervene and act in the best interest of the public.

The civil society movement was spectacularly strong in SA during apartheid. Civil societies played a crucial role and were often a lifeline in the struggle against apartheid. They provided a much-needed vehicle for anti-apartheid programmes when most political organisations were banned.

Sadly, the dawn of democracy 18 years ago saw a significant weakening of the movement.

Civil society organisations are not anti-government and should not be perceived as such by the ANC. They are the eyes and ears of the nation.

They act in the best interests of ordinary citizens. They exist to hold government accountable and engage in undertakings that can only strengthen democracy.

Take the gallant action of Section 27, an organisation which, assisted by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, took the Limpopo administration to court and forced it to provide muchneeded textbooks to pupils in that province.

If Section 27 had not acted, these pupils, all black and in desperate need of education, would have had to sit for their mid-year exams without having seen the text books they are supposed to use to prepare.

The organisation’s effort, intended to secure these youngsters’ future, deserves praise. They have given the children a gift of life – education.

This, of course, assumes the Education Department will honour the high court judgment with speedy delivery.

Recently, an ordinary citizen, Terry Crawford-browne, on a crusade to get the full truth about the multibillionrand arms deal, scored an important victory in the Constitutional Court.

In terms of the ruling of that court, the government now has to set up a commission of inquiry to establish if there was any wrongdoing.

Democracies where civil society is celebrated and encouraged are able to continue to thrive. In countries where civil society is discouraged, harassed, intimidated and beaten into submission by the state, democracies are weak or exist only on paper. Countries such as Swaziland, China and Zimbabwe spring to mind in this respect.

We should all celebrate the reawakening giant that is South Africa’s civil society. We should all support the action taken by FUL in the matter that concerns Mdluli.

Ultimately, the point is not so much whether FUL wins in court. What is more important is that South Africans, determined to do what they could for the good of the country, banded together and acted when they realised that a travesty of justice had just taken place.