All hopes pinned on the peoples’ Constitutional Court

9 February 2016

South Africans are truly appreciative of our country’s Constitutional Court, more so because power politics has become so thoroughly debased in the last few years. Today, all eyes will be on the constitutional court. This is where the nation will see how citizens and the most powerful politicians in the land are made equal. Thankfully for us, no power in the land can unseat the supremacy of the constitution.   

The ruling party, with its ever-ready-to- endorse-anything majority in parliament and a Speaker too biased to occupy that position and an executive too craven to uphold the constitution, has brought South Africa to a sorry pass. When the Nkandla scandal first came to light, the expenditure incurred there was just above R60-million. Timely steps would have halted the wild expenditure that followed. That inexplicably and shockingly did not happen. Neither the President nor anyone else in government lifted so much as a little finger to protect the public purse. As a result of extreme politics of patronage, the costs soared skywards. Even then not a single person in the ruling party felt any twinge of conscience.

Opposition parties were frustrated to the very limit. The ruling party would acknowledge no wrong and offer no solution whatsoever. The “fire pool” syndrome made our national politics very sick.

Fortunately, when every hope of a political solution was lost, the Constitutional Court, up on the hill, kept South Africa’s hopes alive of getting the President to honour the constitution, abide by the constitution and to uphold the constitution.

Thus far President Zuma, with the complicity of ANC MPs and Ministers, has felt no obligation to honour his oath of office. He has never shown once that the oath was taken in earnest and with any intention to fulfil its obligation. He cut loose soon after the ceremony and looked to trash the constitution in whichever way he could. He was creating a terrible and horrid precedent for the future.

Congress of the People wishes it had greater strength to hold the ruling party to a very strict observance of the constitution. Hope, however, lies with the Constitutional Court and with an awakened citizen activism for a more faithful observance of the constitution by the ruling party. As the ANC sheds support, the scope for constitutionality in our country will increase.

Now is the time for all South Africans to own the constitution and to demand total compliance with its provisions. Our freedom and expectation of good governance are nothing without it. Our focus on the Constitution Court today will help us understand its importance and significance in our lives.

Congress of the People looks forward to the outcome of the proceedings at the Constitutional Court.

Issued by Dennis Bloem, Spokesperson, COPE, 9 February 2016