Who will protect us?
25 June 2018
In a recently-published article, A Strategy Built on Race Profiling and Hate, the Centre for Unity in Diversity (CUD) put the searchlight on yet another incident of race-baiting and instigation by Julius Malema at a Youth Day event in Klerksdorp.
This time, the Indian population fell prey to his concerted efforts to stoke the racial fires in the country. Sweeping generalisations, overt and covert threats appear to be the norm in the EFF’s strategy and tactics toolkit, with a concomitant expectation that levels of fear and anxiety will increase amongst the general populace, and the foundational values of the Constitution will become eroded.
In an ideal world, the tenets of the Constitution and the practice of democratic norms serve as strong deterrents. At best, they create an environment where extremists like Malema are isolated and held to account by the justice system and society - including by political leadership across the spectrum. This ideal is also foregrounded in Chapter 9 of the Constitution providing for the establishment of institutions supporting constitutional democracy.
For the purposes of this article, focus is placed on one of the seven institutions, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), whose powers are outlined in section 184 of the Constitution and, in summary, include the following: