Nobody is above the Constitution, not even the former head of state

South Africans watched with bated breath when lawyers stood toe-to-toe and exchanged legal blows in different courts.

Poker-faced judges patiently listened to them before delivering their judgments.

It was a momentous occasion when they drew a line in the sand – Jacob Zuma is now a prisoner in the Escourt Correctional Centre.

Democracy is much more than regular elections; it is the vigilance of the citizens that hold the powerful (public and private) honest and accountable.

The backbone of a constitutional democracy is the strength of its institutions.

In the last few dramatic weeks, South Africans stood on the shoulders of judges when they defended our constitution.

Civil society organisations stood shoulder-to-shoulder as they drove the debate to hold the powerful accountable. Judges don’t have purse or sword to enforce their judgments.

They rely on the state to enforce their orders.

Nelson Mandela inspired us when he signed the constitution on 10 December, 1996 and said: “This is our national soul, our compact with one another as citizens, underpinned by our highest aspirations and our deepest apprehension.”

Nobody would have predicted then that a former head of state, someone who on a number of occasions had endeavored to uphold and respect the constitution, would push us to the precipice.

Zuma is to blame for the lawlessness and chaos that has since erupted.

For years he had fed his supporters with the lie that he was a victim and never repudiated his inner circle when they preached violent uprisings.

Nobody (the powerful – former head of state) is above the constitution and nobody (the powerless – the prisoner in Escourt) is beyond the protection of the constitution.

Zuma will be out of prison but continue to be in court facing other criminal charges.

The justices in the Constitutional Court may be wrong, but their pronouncements still have to be respected and can only be challenged through legal means.

The Constitution may not be perfect but it still has to be respected. It can only be amended through prescribed constitutional avenues.

Nobody participating in the Constitutional Assembly (the body that wrote the constitution) claimed eternal wisdom.

Amendment procedures are provided for.

Those that claim the Constitution is so fatally flawed that it cannot be amended or others that claim there is no supreme constitution cannot escape the reality that the constitution is the highest law in the land and has to be respected by everyone.

If this does not hold we will be governed by the decree of dictators. Each generation takes responsibility for each time.

The veterans of today have bequeathed the next generation with political freedom but have in many respects also failed them.

This is not the moment for them to ride into the sunset but, once again, this is the time for them to – hand in hand with the millennials – be seized with the challenges we face and help to realise the unfulfilled constitutional dreams of a kinder and more equal society.