Brains of freedom absent

Even punk rockers know majority rule doesn’t work in mental institutions. Democracy, free press, constitutional sovereignty, dignity and human rights; all amazing concepts. Sometimes they become tricky when everybody gets the same rights and try to impose each on one another.

Other times, it becomes problematic when people impose rights that are not fully understood or occasionally not even fully real. Next time somebody tells you about their “right to choose” whip out the Bill of Rights and ask them to point it out.

The idea with our complicated legal system is less a manner of empowering people to metaphorically beat up others but rather to create a harmonious system we can live in. Why then does it not feel that harmonious and leave us with a sense of having been beaten up so often?

It’s because it allows us to be selfish and self-motivated while hiding behind the protection of the system. There is no amount of legalese that can make bad people good. There’s no amount of legislation that can make stupid people smart.

Public office

There’s unfortunately no amount of intervention that can give selfish people a sense of duty. What we need in place of our bad, stupid and selfish leadership class is the elusive good and smart crew featuring an understanding of their duty.

Duty in public office, however, is not a matter of checking the boxes of the job description. Were that the case, President Cyril Ramaphosa has the sweetest and shortest JD thanks to section 84 of the constitution. Duty in public office must extend to actually benefitting the public – and it’s sadly not surprising that the public benefit is pretty limited.

I’d go further and say that the public isn’t getting much bang for its buck and this is partially because people have rights that they can weaponise. I wouldn’t dare say a right can be abused because I don’t believe that there’s an arbiter in the world who can make that call consistently fairly.

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Rights

I do, however, wish those with rights appreciate the effect of using them against the duties of their offices – current and former. Does Jacob Zuma really need to go to court to lose over and over? No, but he has the right to. Does Glynnis Breytenbach really need to use provocative language in the legislature?

No, but she has the right to. Does Busi Mkhwebane really need to join the Economic Freedom Fighters? No, but she has a right to. The freedoms executed by these three people, while valid, have done precious little to benefit them in the long run but have collectively eroded public trust in the judiciary’s efficacy, the legislature’s function and the political neutrality of the public protector’s office.

Surely, you’d expect a caring public official, whether or not they’ve left office, to care about the role of their office and its reputation. Well, expect away, but you’ll be disappointed.

Expectations

If you want your expectations to be met, you can expect a public official to care about themselves before caring for their office and we have built a legal system equipping them to do just that. Weirdly, the more we do to try and stop it, the more it doesn’t stop.

Who cares about the Public Finance Management Act when a person’s freedoms and other rights are allegedly on the other side of the debate? JZ has been through every tier of the judiciary and still claims to be waiting for his day in court and the more he says it, the less the facts matter because he has rights.

Everybody does. His just appear to be more accessible. The facts should matter and for a civilisation to thrive, we don’t just need freedoms and right but also an understanding of how to wield them – even to our detriment when we are tasked with building the civilisation.

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