‘SA’s Constitution remains one of the most progressive in the world’

Anti-apartheid activist and former Constitutional Court Justice, Albie Sachs, says the South African Constitution remains one of the most progressive in the world.

Sachs gave the inaugural Prestige Lecture at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, as part of a Memorandum of Understanding between his Foundation and the university.

The Prestige Lecture is expected to take place for the next five years.

Sachs also described the country’s Constitution-making process, as unique.

During his lecture, Sachs recalled how important the mandate was to those who were appointed to draft the Constitution of the country.

He cited the voter turnout in the first democratic elections as the most significant mandate.

Sachs says, “Twenty million people, the elections…you couldn’t get a better mandate than that and you couldn’t get a more participatory process than that. Twenty million people stood in line for hours and hours for the first time, dropping their piece of paper as equals for the first time. I always mention the story of an elderly ill African man in what is now Limpopo who came to vote in a wheelbarrow because he wanted to vote before he died. It was hugely meaningful.”

He is adamant that no concessions were made, as is widely narrated in present-day South Africa.

Sachs explained that it required an enormous amount of thought, to get the apartheid powers to surrender power without war and avoid inheriting a country in ruins.

“People speak about the liberation movement made huge concession freedom on conscience, that’s not a concession. The right to use your language that’s not a concession, the right not to be arbitrarily detained, that’s not a concession. We didn’t want to go back to the methods of apartheid. We African people who suffered so much in our bodies believe that it is possible for people to live together respecting each other.”

Sachs insists that it’s time for South Africans to return to participatory democracy and realign themselves with the Constitution.

He also says the issue of gender-based violence is a constitutional matter, to be challenged in line with the Constitution’s guarantee of safety.