Chairperson, Chief Justice, heads of courts, fellow compatriots, I am delighted to take part in this epic debate on the Budget Vote of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The constitutional mandate of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development is to ensure that our country is governed in accordance to the letter and spirit of our supreme law, which is the Constitution. In this regard we endeavour to ensure that the country is not only governed according to the Constitution, but indeed must be seen to be governed by the ruling floor. This fundamental principle applies equally to private citizens as it applies to public bodies.
Ka Sepedi re re ?ako la hloka thobela ke mojano. Lefaseng le la ga borena bo thobela ba bagolo ke Molaotheo. Mago?i le balata ba a lekana mo pele ga Molaotheo. Gape Molaotheo wo ke wona o lotago dit?hiwana; ke wona bopapa le bomma. Re it?hirelet?a ka wona ebile re lwela ditokelo t?a rena ka wona. Ka mant?u a mangwe, Molaotheo wo ke kotse le lerumo la set?haba. (Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows.)
[In Sepedi we say that a nation without genuine leadership goes astray. The Constitution reigns supreme in this country. Everyone is equal before the Constitution and it protects the underprivileged. It is the be-all and the end-all. Through it we find protection and the platform to fight for our rights. In other words, the Constitution is the shield and the spear of the nation.]
Our Constitution, as we all know, was born out of fierce struggles for national liberation. Accordingly it embodies the dreams of the majority of our people to live as free beings in the land of their forebears. On the other hand, our Constitution is a result of a negotiated settlement amongst the oppressed and the erstwhile oppressors. In this sense our Constitution represents a monumental and historic victory of the oppressed, whilst simultaneously standing out as a great compromise promising and promoting mutual accommodation among the former warring parties.
The foes of yesterday wisely chose the path of peaceful settlement, faced with the looming and grim reality of mutual annihilation. Our Constitution therefore recognises the humanity and citizenship of the black majority by granting them the right to vote and to be voted for. The right to vote and to be voted for represents the basic and most fundamental demand of the revolution. This alone - and there is much more - gives us, the black majority, more than a thousand reasons why we should defend the Constitution.
As the leading movement for liberation and as the embodiment of the aspirations of our people, we are therefore, first and foremost, the frontline detachment in the defence of this Constitution. We are enjoined and obligated to defend it against those who launch assaults at it when it does not promote their narrow interests, but applaud it when they think it does so.
Negotiations for a new and democratic order were underpinned and indeed ushered in by the realisation that the apartheid regime was no longer able to rule in the same old way. At the same time, our people had begun to render the system of apartheid unworkable and the country ungovernable. The change in the balance of forces in favour of liberation forces had effectively limited the ability of the regime to continue deploying violence as a principal weapon of oppression.
The Constitution thus embodies political freedoms which are the blood, the soul and the breath of our democracy. As democrats we declared in the 1955 Freedom Charter that "South Africa belongs to all those who live in it, black and white".
We are not satisfied to attain political freedoms for the majority to the exclusion of others. In line with the spirit of ubuntu we sought to ensure that, in regaining our humanity, this gain was extended to the rest of society in our country.
In this regard the first lack of political compromise was the creation of a system of proportional representation, given the demography of the country. Had we opted for the winner takes all, our Parliament would in all probability have been composed exclusively of the former liberation forces. We would have been sitting in a legislature that excluded the white minority which constitutes a vital component of our rainbow nation, the Afrikaner in particular, who is as indigenous as the mopani of the bushveld in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. [Laughter.]
The other pillar of mutual accommodation was to make the Constitution itself the supreme law of the country, amendable only by two thirds majority. In other words, the legislature is also subject to this Constitution. This limits the possibilities of a majority throwing its weight around at will. The laws it passes must therefore conform to the Constitution.
To ensure that this happens, the Constitution has established an independent judiciary at the apex of which is the Constitutional Court with the power to rule legislation unconstitutional in appropriate circumstances. Similarly, the activities of the executive are subject to the rule of law. In addition, the Constitution provides for three generations of human rights which are enforceable under our laws.
The judiciary has the principal duty of ensuring that these rights are given to all the citizens. All this, the ANC is determined to defend, whether it agrees or disagrees with the decisions of the judiciary. We do so because we believe in the sanctity of these principles and the righteousness of our covenant.
This budget is aimed at providing resources to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in order to carry out its mandate. It is my pleasure to say to this House that, indeed, we have debated it vigorously and we have adopted it. I thank you. [Applause.]