Zille challenges Zuma to commit to the constitution
Helen Zille |
15 February 2008
Article by the leader of the Democratic Alliance, February 15 2008
The President's proposal for school children to recite a
pledge of allegiance has generated a great deal of debate. Many people are
understandably wary of politicians attempting to instill value-laden rhetoric
on their children. Perhaps the public would be more amenable to the idea of a
pledge if they believed that the politicians driving the proposal were being
true to the pledge that they made to serve the people in Parliament.
The Democratic
Alliance, whilst concerned about the lack of time for public consultation,
believes there is merit in a proposal for a pledge of allegiance to the values
of our Constitution. We believe that such a pledge may help all our
children feel that they are part of a larger national identity. More
importantly, the pledge may go some way to instill the values of an open,
tolerant and free society that are embodied in our Constitution.
However, the final
pledge that is adopted must be future-orientated, not backward-looking. It
certainly must not simply reflect the worldview of the ruling party. Our
children want to look towards a brighter future together - no child should have
to carry the sins of their fathers on their shoulders.
It is encouraging that
government's draft proposal concludes with the following: "We sincerely declare
that we shall uphold the rights and values of our Constitution and promise to
act in accordance with the duties and responsibilities that flow from these
rights".
This is both a noble
and worthy sentiment. While there may be some disagreement over the wording of
the pledge, it is surely beyond dispute that a willingness to accept and uphold
the Constitution should be at its core.
Putting the
Constitution and its values at the heart of any pledge of allegiance is
therefore to be welcomed. It comes at a time when our country is caught in the
midst of a battle-- between those who uphold the values and principles of the
Constitution and those in the ruling party who seek to undermine them. In this
context, I believe it is absolutely vital that we encourage a culture of
constitutionalism in our youth. Such a culture will be a valuable weapon
against those bent on undermining our democracy.
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The question I want to
ask today is whether many politicians in the ruling party can themselves, in
all honesty, say that they are willing to pledge allegiance to the
Constitution? Jacob Zuma has already shown a disturbing disregard, on a number
of occasions, for the rule of law and the Constitution.
In December 2006, as
part of his unofficial campaign for the ANC Presidency, Zuma visited Lusikisiki
in the Eastern Cape . In an address to a large gathering of ANC supporters,
Zuma recalled an incident from ten years before, when he had been called in by
the party to mediate a dispute. He added: "I said then that the ANC is more
important than even the Constitution of the country".
The incident that Zuma
was referring to was when he, in his capacity as ANC National Chairman, was
called upon to resolve a dispute in the party's structures in the Free State .
The conflict centred around the ANC's dismissal of Free State Premier Mosiuoa
Lekota, after he had exercised his prerogative under the Constitution to hire
and fire MECs in his provincial Cabinet.
Zuma's purpose in
"mediating" the conflict was to re-enforce the ANC's policy of "cadre
deployment"--meaning in effect, that ANC Premiers are accountable first and
foremost to the party, rather than the Constitution. Reflecting on the matter
later at an ANC regional meeting in Durban , Zuma observed: "Once you begin to
feel you are above the ANC, you are in trouble".
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Five days prior to
that incident, Zuma had expanded on his views regarding the relations of party
and state. His remarks make revealing reading, given that he is now the
President of the ANC himself:
"There
is no Premier who is a Premier out of nowhere. They are all coming from the
ruling party. They are answerable and accountable to the party, including the
President and everyone else. The President of this country is the President of
the ANC. No one person can be above the ANC. He can't be."
The now infamous
statement that Zuma has repeated more than once, that "the ANC will rule South
Africa until Jesus comes", also reveals his contempt for the Constitution.
After all, who needs a Constitution, when you believe that you rule by divine
right?
The truth of the
matter is this. For Jacob Zuma and the ANC, loyalty to the ruling party is
prioritised over the values and principles of the Constitution. Indeed, when it
is in the interests of the ANC to do so, it deliberately blurs the
constitutional principle of the separation between party and state.
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The ANC has never been
wholly familiar or comfortable with the values contained in our Constitution.
On the contrary: the party has steadily nurtured an internal culture of
corruption--one which is now so prevalent that no less an office-bearer than
the party's Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, declared that "the rot is
across the board...almost every project is conceived because it offers certain
people a chance to make money."
The ANC's warped sense
of the collective has so undermined the principle of accountability that a
third of the country can find itself without electricity--while not one of the
responsible Cabinet Ministers is censured, let along suspended or fired.
Should he become South
Africa 's next President, Zuma will hold the highest constitutional position in
the country - one tasked with protecting, upholding and promoting the
Constitution. To be head of state, one must surely be committed, without
reservation, to the principles and values of our founding document. At the
moment, Zuma does not meet that requirement.
And so I have a
challenge for the new President of the ANC. Just as government wishes to instil
a culture of constitutionalism in our youth, Jacob Zuma should lead by example.
I call upon him to state openly that South Africa 's Constitution is more
important than any single political party and that he pledges his loyalty first
and foremost to protecting, upholding and promoting its values.
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If he fails to do so,
it will present undeniable evidence that Jacob Zuma is unfit to be South Africa
's President. It will also prove that the ANC and its leadership have nothing
but contempt for South Africa 's Constitution.
I wish to conclude by
returning briefly to 1996. The forgotten man of that incident was Mosiuoa
Lekota. In an interview only a week or two after he was summarily removed from
office, Lekota had the following to say about Zuma's assertion that the ANC
trumped the Constitution:
"I
think in the coming period we are going to have to answer to that because if
that statement is going to be the guiding light for the ANC then I think we are
completely on the wrong route. I cannot see that South Africa can be different
from so many of the African countries which have got excellent documents on
paper but when it comes to practice it's completely something different. I
think if in the end that is really what we have fought for or what we are
expected to have fought for and so on, then freedom will never really dawn on
our side."
Although now discarded
by his party, and a victim of its obsession with centralising power, Lekota
offers us some hope that not all in the ANC share Jacob Zuma's contempt for our
Constitution.
In the weeks and
months ahead, it is vital that those of us who put the Constitution first - in
other words the vast majority of South Africans - join hands to fight the
creeping authoritarianism of the ANC. Encouraging our children to value our
Constitution is an excellent place to start.
This article was published in South Africa Today, the weekly letter by
the leader of the Democratic Alliance, February 15 , 2008
_______________________
The DA's proposed pledge:
"We, the people of South Africa, pledge our
allegiance to the 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;
Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential
of each person; and
Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its
rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations."