Deputy Speaker, Judge Dumbechana, a retired Zimbabwean Chief Justice, said:
When dry legalism cannot administer justice, an activist judge must remake the law.
If we put this in a parliamentary context, this judge was calling for a parliament that should be the pulse of the nation - deservedly so.
It seems to me that activism can only be defined through its operation and some of its manifestations. From my experience, I have understood it to comprise, amongst other things, continuity of one's cause throughout one's life. This is a cause that finds expression in one's family life, in day to day life and in the broader society. It should be lived in one's faith community, sporting community, farming community, etc.
Activism manifests in a highly interactive life; in a life that is collective with the society; and in a life that is representative of societal life. It manifests in passion for the cause from conviction. It manifests in relevant leadership and appropriate decisions, which resonate with people's day to day lives. In this life, there is also a commitment not to compromise the cause in question and also readiness to make any sacrifice for that cause.
Activism was key to the success of our liberation, because its cadreship bore all the aforementioned characteristics. It was a major revelation to the forebears of the ANC Youth League in 1944 through worker leaders, amongst others Ntate Dan Tloome. Their cause was noble and strongly intellectual, yet at times lacking in some elements of activism, for example, the interactive and broader societal awareness of life. It is in this instance that veterans like Dan Tloome were able to demonstrate to young academically developed people the underlying factors that ensure effective community leadership.
Again, the challenges and efforts of our struggle in 1969 were responded to and answered through the phenomenon of activism. It was during this 1969 conference that a conclusion was reached that, without being led and leading those who are affected by our cause, our goal remained a pipe dream. It was the appreciation of activism that led to the birth of the four pillars of our struggle.
It was during this conference that the representative authority of our movement assumed dominance over militarism. The birth of the United Democratic Front, UDF, and the broader Mass Democratic Movement, MDM, represented the further exploitation of the benefits of this phenomenon. It was the phenomenon of activism that secured our movements/moral authority as the principal leader of change in South Africa.
The National Democratic Revolution and its strategy and tactics document emanated from the experience of what determines the legitimacy of a noble struggle or pursuit, and hence its focus on the basic causes of national grievance. The strategy and tactics document was a product of the historic fact that a self-sustaining struggle or pursuit of any noble cause must resonate with the day to day lives of people, and hence its focus on the national struggle and its elements, amongst others gender oppression and racial oppression. These are the issues which affected our people then and heretofore.
What must be the key features of an activist Parliament? It should be the knowledge of its responsibility and the consistent activities thereof. Clearly, the knowledge of our responsibility as Parliament must be understood as parliamentary original and not interincidental upon the activities of the executive. It must be understood as a mandate given to parliamentarians originally from this institution, based on the Constitution. It must also manifest in the relevant capacity for effective implementation of its mandate. It must also manifest in the ability to enjoy national moral authority across all sectors, over and above constitutional entitlement.
It must find resonance with the day to day lives of our people, in particular the poor, marginalised, rural and working class people. It must enjoy both national and international trust as the key guardian instrument in the sustenance of the South African democratic conviction as pronounced in our founding laws. It should be the bastion of innovation, robust debate, battle of ideas and home of growth.
What should be done? I thought it was important to note that one of the biggest challenges in South Africa today with regard to our oversight is the lack of a common language between Parliament and the executive. It is the lack of planning models that inform appropriate questions during these oversights. Indeed, unless this issue is ratified, we will continue to raise questions that are incidental upon the nature of the presentation of an executive. I think the intervention by the President through the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation seeks to address this. This is because there is a fallacy in promising to do oversight of an institution whose model of planning does not inform questions.
One of the biggest challenges is the role of constituency offices. For Parliament to relate properly and represent people, these offices should be used: as reporting institutions on what is happening in Parliament; as centres for discussions on what is happening in Parliament and what society experiences day to day; and as a collection point for the grievances of our people and their views. They must also constitute centres where mutual empowerment between Parliament and the people prevails. Our people must find representation through the entire conduct of our Parliament in the manner we interact with these people. When we come to the judiciary, one of the biggest challenges lies in what Judge Dumbechana said. For Parliament, as being the lawmakers, the biggest challenge lies in continuing to satisfy ourselves that we are removing dry legalism in our judicial system to ensure that it is a system that is organic and run by activist judges and magistrates. It is in this context that Dumbechana's quotation becomes important to me again when he says:
When dry legalism cannot administer justice, an activist judge must remake the law.
I think he was calling for an activist Parliament. Thank you, hon Speaker. [Applause.]