×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Constitution drafters omitted a social pact to address inequality‚ says Moseneke

BURNT OFFERING: Chief Justice Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng with Deputy President Kgalema Mothlanthe after lighting the flame of democracy to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the signing of the South African Constitution at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. Photo: LAUREN MULLIGAN
BURNT OFFERING: Chief Justice Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng with Deputy President Kgalema Mothlanthe after lighting the flame of democracy to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the signing of the South African Constitution at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. Photo: LAUREN MULLIGAN

The absence in the Constitution of a social pact to address social inequality in the country is a far-reaching omission.

This remark was made by retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke on Friday. He was addressing students and staff at the Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics at the University of the Witwatersrand‚ where he was appointed an honorary professor in June.

Moseneke said the picture that emerges 22 years into democracy was not simply black or white.

 “We are not dealing with absolutes here. The portrait is indeed chequered. It does not portray a deferred dream only.”

Moseneke said the genesis of the strife in South Africa was colonial rule and land dispossession‚ which later mutated into exclusion and oppression based on race.

“And we will do well to remember it took the better part of 350 years to fight back and overthrow significant elements of that oppression.”

Moseneke said citizens gathered around the peace table from 1990 to write down‚ with remarkable clarity‚ the notion of a just society.

“Our society was meant to be inclusive‚ to be caring to be socially just and tolerant of diversity. We did not only try to shut the door firmly on apartheid‚ but we also sought to reverse the devastation of apartheid by imposing justiciable socioeconomic rights and authorising secondary remedial and restitutionary measures.”

Moseneke said some the measures to transition to a just society had been done well. These included the induction of a representative society where the parliamentary system functioned.

And‚ in some parts of the country‚ local government functioned and rendered basic services.

“Our Treasury‚ although now besieged and embattled‚ functions and its functions are not shabby. Our revenue collection is known as is world class. We pay our taxes regularly. Our courts are independent and I hope effective.”

But when the Constitution was negotiated‚ the parties skirted around the need for fundamental social change‚ Moseneke said.

“The negotiators did not stare in the eye the historical and structural inequality in the economy‚ and the inequality rested and still rests in the disparity between those who own productive assets and management skills‚ on the one hand‚ and those who don’t.”

Moseneke said those who had assets and skills had wealth and those who did not have them have them are poor.

“There was no pact on how to achieve equality and social justice that the Constitution promised.”

Instead‚ the Constitution imposed duties on the state to facilitate access to social goods such as education‚ health water and social grants. These socioeconomic entitlements were limited to state transfers as and when state funds became available.

But the provision of socioeconomic rights did not address the restructuring of the economy to render it more productive and in a way which would substantial entry of the economic underclass into economic production.

“The absence of the social pact was a far-reaching omission‚ in my view‚ given the stubborn inequality that is embedded in the social structure of our country at the start of the transition.

“We should have realised this is a big problem and we should have done something about it.”

 

— TMG Digital

 

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.