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.

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".

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.

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.

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."