South Africa: Constitutional Assembly Resources

17 February 1995


Thank you for your invitation to the public at large to contribute their ideas to the development of the constitution.


There are three matters which I would like to raise:-

1. A PEOPLE'S CONSTITUTION

Unless it lives in the hearts and minds of ordinary citizens, the Constitution will be a sterile document of interest only to politicians, academics and lawyers. For we, the people, a document which is short, readily understandable and inspiring is required.

I suggest that the rights (and duties) of ordinary people essentially covered in Chapter 3 of the interim constitution - should be lifted out, simplified, handed over to the finest writers in each of our Official languages and put into words which are memorable, thrilling and inspiring.

There should be no legalese, no lettering and numbering of sub-paragraphs, and none of the fine print to address matters of detail or to comfort particular vested interests. These can be left to interpretation by the Constitutional Court - thus to a limited degree flexible as our society develops over the centuries.

The resulting document should be no longer than four or five pages - shorter if possible - widely and constantly publicised, and explained and discussed regularly at all our schools. This should be THE CONSTITUTION. All the rest of the 220 pages of the interim constitution having to do with the structures and institutions of the state should be- put into an entirely separate document. Important though it is, it is unintelligible bumf to ordinary citizens.

2. THE STRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE STATE

The separate document suggested should be subservient to THE CONSTITUTION, as proposed. One of the main purposes of a constitution is to protect the rights of the people from the predations of politicians and bureaucrats, whoever there may be in the future. So the separate document on the structures and institutions of the State should take as its point of departure: limiting the powers of the State to the minimum essential; confining the exercise of these powers with the most rigorous checks and balances; ensuring the most comprehensive transparency and accountability; and entrenching easy methods for ordinary people to dismiss politicians and public servants who fail to satisfy them.



One of the ways of doing this is to devolve as much authority and responsibility as possible to the lowest level of government, where ordinary people can keep an eye on what is going on.

3. THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

It is a great mistake to have Constitutional Court consisting only judges, lawyers and constitutional law experts. What is needed is a Court consisting of 11 men and women of wisdom, integrity and common sense. These qualities are not confined to members of the legal profession and it is undesirable that our constitutional rights should be interpreted, protected and enforced by a group drawn solely from such a narrow segment of society. We need checks and balances an judges, lawyers and constitutional law experts too.


I.J. HETHERINGTON