What makes laws work?

If you haven’t noticed, there are plenty of interesting bits of writing going through parliament at the moment and, as is traditional, many people are unhappy.

It raises interesting philosophical questions; What is the legal system supposed to do? Who is responsible for granting rights to people? What is equality and how does it work in a world of freedom? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get several different answers and they’re hardly answers that the legislature is ever called on to provide.

So what is NHI trying to achieve and why is it trying to achieve whatever that may be? The Copyright Amendment Bill? There are Bills I’d wager few have even heard of, let alone considered.

The National Veld and Forest Fire Amendment Bill is at its final stages and I bet you never knew there was even an Act regulating veld and forest fires. But what is the point of it all?

Is it to change behaviour, empower organs of state, empower the private sector or prevent damage to infrastructure?

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It could be all those things, some of them or even none. Take NHI. It’s stated that it’s trying to do a good thing. Get good healthcare to the public.

Great goal to have. How is it doing that? Admitting to the failure of the public health system and capitalizing on the success of the private sector without actually admitting to the failure of public health. That private energy procurement policy does much of the same thing.

But surely, the job of the legislature cannot be to cover up the failings of the executive in implementing its laws.

That would require a system of creating executive failures for the legislature to cover up and few taxpayers would be happy to fund that system.

RICA has to get a change because the Constitutional Court held that there are privacy concerns and the Correctional Services Act is getting a change so that there can be a shift in the balancing of power.

There are so many reasons to create, change and drop laws and we seldom ask why we obey them. We just do, for the most part.

Those who don’t sometimes don’t appear to feel the might of the law and victims rarely get totally de-victimed. It’s not like laws can undo rape or bring people back from the dead. So that can’t be the purpose either.

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You’ll slow down when you know there’s a speed trap coming and you’d think twice about buying that bottle of Scotch if the sin tax is too high but people will still speed and others will still drink and some will even do both simultaneously. We wouldn’t need those laws if there were no roads or alcohol hadn’t been discovered but that’s not the world we live in.

So we create laws to address the issues in the context we live in to try make that context better. Whether it be through behavioural changes or assignment of authority or any number of creative ways but the end goal, supposedly, remains the same; the goal of making South Africa a better place.

That brings us to another set of questions. Better for who? At who’s expense? Better how? And all those questions are raised before we even ask whether the ends will be met.

Some are very effective like control over the distribution of prescription drugs. Others, like paying your TV licence suck to enforce. Hundreds, you may not even notice while those that you do, cough, RICA, cough are an annoying inconvenience.

But they’re there, and they’re there for a reason; a reason we seldom question.

That’s why, I’ve decided over the next few weeks, this column will be dedicated to exploring new laws we could implement to make South Africa a better place.

In this election year, we need to be asking ourselves what can be done to improve the lives of South Africans…after all, that’s what our legal system is supposed to do.

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Here’s an official invitation to relook at how we regulate ourselves and ask whether it makes life better for us.

Often, it may be detrimental to you or might not even affect you in particular. That’s not the kind of selfish debate question we should be asking.

As a real democracy, we need to look at our legal system and ask whether it’s to the benefit of South Africans living in South Africa, not a single group, class or demographic. Rather, does the law make South Africa the place we want to be.

With that elevated thinking, we’ll have fewer fights, better lives and a prosperous nation.

There will always be give and take and what we’ve learned from the last 30 years is that the law is a vital tool in creating a nation. What kind of nation depends on how we wield this tool.

It cannot be a politicized weapon any longer. It needs to be a creative and constructive set of rules that makes our country a better place.

One that acknowledges our context and takes steps to improve it.

That’s how the preamble of our Constitution has been framed and frankly, it would be wonderful if we could start living that.