Stop preaching the Constitution to us

It’s difficult not to roll one’s eyes at some of the comments coming out of the celebrations around the 25th anniversary of our constitution. “Our constitution is a bedrock for collaboration among the three arms of the state.

It is important that all government institutions work together in fulfilling the aspirations of citizens for a better life in eradicating all forms of corruption, poverty and unemployment,” said parliament’s presiding officers, namely the Speaker of the National Assembly Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and the chair of the National Council of Provinces Amos Masondo.

If Mapisa-Nqakula wasn’t reportedly under investigation for allegedly receiving an R5 million bribe from a defence contractor, living large on the taxpayer’s purse at luxury hotels and spending R7 million on aircraft charters, her co-statement with Masondo might have more gravitas.

So too with Masondo, responsible for the biggest billing failure under Project Phakama in Johannesburg’s history. The multi-billion rand failure of Phakama left subsequent administrations to carry the can, not to mention those residents whose lives were left in turmoil – something for which he has yet to apologise.

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“Together, united in our rich diversity, let us protect our democracy for future generations to inherit a better South Africa, free from all social ills and economic hardships because the sustenance of our constitution is dependent on people seeing and feeling a difference in the quality of their lives,” they said in their statement.

Plainly, the incredible crime rate, the world Monday 13 December 2021 10 leading unemployment levels of 82 countries, the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, the near annihilation of the South African Revenue Service by tobacco corporations to name just a few, have all escaped our oblivious parliamentary leaders.

And when it comes to day-to-day living, as the supreme law of the land, it is abused daily by those who writhe and wriggle to escape justice at any cost. And we’re not even talking Jacob Zuma here. Justice Minister Ronald Lamola noted on Friday “our constitution remains hollow to survivors of gender-based violence” and “our constitution remains hollow to those who idle in poverty and unemployment”.

It also remains hollow to those left behind after a loved one is murdered, and again when their killer is set free 10 years into a “life sentence”. The same goes for rape survivors who live with the after-effects, even when their rapists are set free on parole.

And in a society where child rapists and killers continue with impunity despite multiple life sentences handed down regularly, it must be asked, where is the constitution on the streets? When the queer community must fight tooth and nail against the likes of Jon Qwelane for our very survival, it must be asked, where is the constitution on the streets? When people and organisations actively and openly sow disinformation and fear around Covid, it must be asked, where is the constitution on the streets?

A fish rots from the head, it is said. It’s time our “leaders” started living the constitution, instead of preaching it at us.