The People Shall Govern: The principal and supreme foundation of our democracy

Amidst all the sound and fury about threats to our constitution by the ANC and government is a liberal and opposition political agenda that aims to subvert, if not invert, the fundamental basis on which our democracy and constitution are based, that the people shall govern. The most authoritative source on this matter is the Freedom Charter, which did not only inspire the entire struggle of our people against the apartheid regime, but is actually the foundation of our own constitution:

"We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white and that no government can justly claim authority, unless it is based on the will of all the people... that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of colour, race, sex or belief".

The above constitutes the fundamental basis of our democracy. Our Constitution does not stand apart or above this fundamental principle, but instead is the legal basis and expression of the will of the people!  The liberal offensive is trying very hard to do two things in an attempt to subvert the basis of our democracy. Firstly, it seeks to separate our Constitution and place it above the will of the people as if the two were in contradiction.

There is no other basis to our constitution, other than as an expression of the will of the people. Secondly the liberal offensive deliberately and selectively interprets our constitution to emphasize those aspects that are a check and balance on government and the exercise of executive power, as if the institutions supporting our democracy are above the fundamental principle that the people shall govern!

The supreme expression of the will of the people in our constitution is an elected government through periodic, free and fair elections in which all the people of South Africa participate, hence the Charter's emphasis that "no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people". It was therefore no accident that the very Preamble to our Constitution, amongst others, categorically states that:

"We, the people of South Africa,

Recognize the injustices of our past

Believe South Africa belongs to all who live in it...

"We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the Supreme law of the Republic so as to:

"Heal the divisions of the past, and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;

"Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law"

The reason why all the efforts of the liberal offensive are focused on using every trick in the book to challenge and discredit the decisions of the executive arm of the state' and often rubbish decisions of parliament they do not like, is so that they seek to diminish and dilute the principle of "the will of the people" and that "the people shall govern".

This they also do by seeking to suggest that the courts and other institutions that support our democracy, especially in instances where they rule or pronounce against government, should at no stage be subjected to criticism, either by government or society. A picture is often created, with the active support and collusion of mainstream media, that the executive arm of government and the ruling party want to subvert our constitution.

For example, some three weeks back I watched an extremely biased 3rd Degree programme on our constitution. The message from this programme was that the supreme authority on the affairs of the country is the Constitutional Court, if not the judiciary as a whole. Similarly an idea is peddled that the Constitution is the sole preserve of the Constitutional Court.

Let's get things right from the word go. The Constitution is first and foremost for all South Africans and, in the first instance, it belongs to them and not to any single organ of state. For instance, amendments to the constitution are the sole preserve of the legislature, representing the duly and freely elected representatives of our people. The role of the courts is to adjudicate in case of disputes, and to ensure that no legislation or executive actions violate the constitution.

The source of this liberal posture is both ideological and political - its goal is to undermine the majoritarian character of our democracy. There is currently a huge outcry, manufactured in the media and in the ranks of the opposition, that there is a threat to our constitution. Often this outcry is being used to solicit foreign funds for all sorts of conservative and liberal Non-Governmental Organisations, whose objective is not to strengthen our democracy but to frustrate government's actions aimed at consolidating our democracy and transforming our country in favour of the overwhelming majority of our people.

Take an NGO like the FW de Klerk Foundation, which today pretends to be the guardian of our constitution, yet it's very founder FW de Klerk pulled the National Party out of the government of national unity in 1996 directly in protest at the adoption of our constitution! The basis of this anti majoritarian posture principally derives from the fact that the overwhelming majority of the white minority were deadly opposed to majority rule. For instance, the National Party argued strenuously that in our constitution we must have special clauses to protect minority interests, including the preservation of white and privileged educational institutions.

It was this relentless opposition to a transition to democracy, and a refusal to set an election date that saw the 'third force' intensifying its violence and assault on our people and movement and in the process costing us thousands of innocent lives, including that of our leader, Cde Chris Hani. The DA has a political role, is an opposition party, and is interested in showing government in a negative light as part of its political agenda. Its predecessors, the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party had for decades been opposed to black majority rule, arguing for a qualified franchise, by allowing only educated blacks to have a vote.

Yet today these, and the likes of apartheid legal practitioners like Paul Hoffman, who never raised a finger against the brutality of the apartheid regime, want us to believe that they are now the best custodians of our Constitution. The liberals contest elections and lose, but they want to rule from the grave!

The Ideological Third Force

As part of the ideological armoury of the anti-majoritarian liberal offensive are attempts to assemble elite voices in society that appear to be either neutral or authoritative to try and discredit the ANC. The mainstream liberal media, some liberal NGOs, and of late business voices like Reuel Khoza, are all part of an 'ideological third force', decrying the 'threats' to our constitution and 'lack' of leadership in the ANC and society. Similarly, all of our institutions supporting democracy are either affirmed or condemned in the media, purely on the basis of whether they find positively or negatively against the ANC or government, often irrespective of the issues at hand.

It is for the above reasons that some of us have called upon our courts and chapter nine institutions to be alive to this anti-majoritarian agenda. We want our courts and chapter nine institutions to do their work without fear or favour, and not to allow themselves to be used as platforms to advance party political agendas or be asked to adjudicate on matters that ordinarily belong to the electorate.

There is for example absolutely nothing wrong in amending our constitution, if it is so required or necessary. There is no constitution anywhere in the world that is cast in stone and not subjected to periodic reviews or amendments. The constitution, in fact, provides rules for its own amendment. That the ANC is projected as wanting to amend the constitution in order to undermine the constitution is part of an ideological blackmail by this ideological third force.

Whilst we are a constitutional state, the maxim that the people shall govern must never at any stage be compromised, as it constitutes the foundation of our democracy. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted from our focus on leading the transformation process in our country. The key task of our ANC structures and its Allies is the mobilisation of our people behind our key five priorities. Ours is to effectively combine mass and state power to build on the many advances that the ANC government in general, and the Zuma administration in particular, have made.

It also requires that our cadre must see most of the print media for what it is - it has effectively become part of the political opposition that has abandoned any of its pretences to objectivity and fairness reporting in relation to the ANC and government. Interestingly, the bundles of free copies of The Star newspaper completely ignored and left behind at the end of the Chris Hani commemoration on Tuesday may have told the whole story about the standing of our print media and the attitude of our cadres!

It is also important that our ANC and Alliance cadre embark on sustained ideological work to expose the liberal offensive for what it is - fear of black majority rule.

The people shall govern!!

Dr Blade Nzimande is an ANC NEC, NWC member and Minister of Higher Education. This article first appeared in ANC Today, the weekly online newsletter of the African National Congress.

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