Weak governance, police and rule of law in SA – Pityana

Barney Pityana, chair of the National Lotteries Commission, says the state is weak, police are unable to uphold law while the lack of prosecutions against affluent individuals has given rise to corruption.

Pityana was speaking at the opening of the three-day National Conference on the Constitution held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Wednesday.

Pityana, who was one of four panelists under the theme “Reflections on the Constitution: Rule of law, accountability, social and economic justice”, said the impression given by the state was that it was “invisible and behaves as if it's powerless”.

“The constitution was clear in its affirmation and the responsibilities it put on the state. It says in Chapter 2 of the Bill of Rights, the state must respect, protect and promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.

“There is no possibility of the realisation of the rights in the Bill of Rights and even the constitution without a state that is proactive and engaged enough in forming and shaping the nature of our society.

“Sometimes one senses that governance in our country is weak, police are weak and unable to enforce law and order and the rule of law not able to bring about obedience within the system.

“We have a former president who has been in and out of court for 10 years and for me it’s not an affirmation of a rights-based state but affirmation of a state unable to enforce law. It tells the people of the country law is unable to be enforced,” Pityana said.

The conference is to give the nation an opportunity to reflect and engage in dialogue on the past 25 years of the constitution, nation building, gender equality, youth economic empowerment, service delivery and social stability, with the objective of charting a way forward that builds on the gains of democracy.

Adv Thuli Madonsela, who was one of the panelists, said one of the biggest failures was to the full implementation of the Equality Act where there was social fairness.

“We need to fix the design of laws and the second one is the implementation of that which then boils down to accountability.

“A lot of the cases in the ConCourt have made it clear if we don’t deal with inequality we won’t reach the democracy we want. We have the country we want, the political and legal freedoms which enable us to create other freedoms.

“Most of us are at the design table and we can’t complain in 30 years that things have gone wrong,” she said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who gave the keynote address, said there was no viable state or effective constitutional democracy without the support and involvement of citizens in the different public formations.

“Apart from paying taxes, observing the law and contributing to social and economic development, citizens also play an important role in the establishment of our various governance structures and in holding accountable those put in charge to serve the nation.

"Over the past 25 years of our constitution, a lot of progress has been made in redressing the injustices of the past. However, despite numerous achievements, there are still many challenges in the realisation of the vision, values and prescripts of our constitution.

“This conference gives us an opportunity to reflect on the road we must traverse to strengthen our constitutional democracy and address the many challenges around the rule of law, accountability and social and economic justice,” Ramaphosa said.