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Hold government to the Constitution

FREEDOM day brings back fond memories. I was an election monitor in Braamfontein; when I arrived in the chilly early morning hours (those were the days when we still had autumn) a queue had already unrolled itself round the building, and an excited young man was at the very head. Every time I walked past him, he chanted: “I’m gonna be the first to vote!”

Minutes before the doors opened, a middle-aged Indian man arrived, escorting an very elderly woman with long, skinny, iron-grey plaits. The doors opened a crack to allow the pair to slip in. There was a second of stunned silence as all of us who’d heard the morning-long chant turned to look at the previous Number One. His face was a picture; then it split into a broad smile and he chanted: “I’m gonna be the SECOND to vote!”

Two-and-a-half giddy years later, we had a new constitution, the most progressive in the world, of which we can be justly proud.

But as those who think of themselves as our lords and masters have recently amply demonstrated, constitutions are only as good as the observation thereof; and we in South Africa seem to be great at words, not so much at making words become realities.

Much attention is focused on the first few chapters of the constitution – the Bill of Rights in Chapter 2, given extra impetus by the work of NGOs such as Section 27, speaking to health, education, and similar rights.

You seldom hear people quote other parts of the Constitution, but it bears reading. Remember, before party policies, this is the mandate of any South African government. So, for example, section 24, environment:
Everyone has the right
•  to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and
•  to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that
a. prevent pollution and ecological degradation;
b. promote conservation; and
c. secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

Now look at this graphic. Our major cities all register well above the healthy level of particulates in the air, and Johannesburg is the worst – among the 100 worst in the world. Why? Air, water and soil quality should be first in the minds of those governing our country.

Yet across South Africa, the conservation of these most precious of all resources – far more precious than any mineral or fossil fuel – seems way back in the queue. A safe and protected environment is a human right; yet as we saw in the ongoing battle against mining on the Wild Coast, mining rights (and other commercial rights) seem to trump human rights far too often.

Now skip to Chapter 10, with its uninspiring title: Public Administration. (Fin24 user Anwar drew my attention to this, and I think it’s a great one!)

Public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the constitution, including:
(a) A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained.
(b) Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted.
(c) Public administration must be development-orientated.
(d) Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias.
(e) People’s needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making.
(f) Public administration must be accountable.

Three things in this little extract leap out:
Efficient, economic and effective use of resources;
People’s needs must be responded to; and
Public administration must be accountable.

If the ConCourt found that the president and Parliament failed to uphold and defend the constitution in dealing with the issue of Nkandla, heaven only knows what it would find if we brought before it the daily breaches of the constitution in terms simply of these three items.

I live about five or six kilometres from an informal settlement that is in hell. The druglords rule; ordinary people live in fear, forced to watch as their children are sucked into the nyaope culture. No amount of pleading and lobbying seems to engage the interest of the local police. In fact, the common belief is that the druglords pay off the police.

No organ of state is interested in the people of this township, whose needs are seldom responded to. Once, I watched an NGO worker plead with state-employed social workers to help a three-year-old girl at risk, but it was Friday afternoon and everyone was going home for the weekend and anyway, you couldn’t expect them to go into THAT place, could you?
This, of course, spills over into all our lives (desperate communities become both prey and haven for crime).

I am beginning to wonder if we could take our government to the ConCourt in terms of Chapter 10, for inefficient, wasteful and ineffective use of our resources, providing services through public enterprises and organs of state which are so unresponsive to the needs of all of us – but most of all, to those who need state services most, those who can’t buy water and security services and the like.

Anyone prepared to take this idea on?

*Mandi Smallhorne is a versatile journalist and editor. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on Twitter.

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