Constitutional Court Judge Justice Jody Kollapen said on Monday that for many South Africans, the Constitution remains an illusion far on the horizon as they impatiently wait to feel its presence and wait for it to deliver on its promise.     

He was addressing delegates during the Democracy and Constitutionalism webinar series, organised by SECTION27 and Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), held at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg.

The series was developed as anti-democratic actions make headlines across the world and amid hopes to ignite grassroots activism and civic education programmes.

Kollapen said the longer people wait to feel the effects of the Constitution, the more likely they are to believe that it is more elusive than it is real.

He added that the future of South Africa depends on how the constitutional pact is honoured for all South Africans.  

He reminded delegates that there was life and activism before the Constitution.

He said the struggle for freedom took place outside of a formal organised State institutional framework and he stressed that it was by no means a disorganized struggle, just that it was organised differently and, in a real sense, organically.

The judge added that people at all levels of society and sectors recognised that unity of purpose was key “if we were to speak in one voice, advance one life struggle and work towards the idea of one South Africa that belonged to all of its people”.

He added that the vibrancy of civic society organisations took center stage at the time as they guided and strategised, while leading with integrity.

“It was also the age of hope just as it may have been the age of despair. We can never lose hope even though we feel hopeless at times. Hope must be what sustains us," Kollapen said.

He said after 1994, South Africa replaced the system of minority rule with a system of constitutionalism, which he said was important as it denoted a system of government that was guided by a set of enduring constitutional principles that would be difficult to change and that at its heart recognised the need for State power to be constrained in the interest of the democracy that underpinned it.

Kollapen said democratic decision-making, or majority rule, in a system of constitutionalism is recognised to the extent that it is not offensive to the precepts of the Constitution.  

He said this is important in South Africa where the claims of majorities may come into conflict with the Constitution.

While the structures of the Constitution are there to provide an enabling environment, they are by no means dispositive of the manner in which people can choose to organise themselves and engage formal institutions of the State.

“We must be careful that we do not allow the grandiosity of the constitutional order to have a chilling effect on the lifeblood of democracy,” he stated.

Meanwhile, SECTION27 Education Rights Programme head Dr Faranaaz Veriava said her organisation hoped that the alliance between SECTION27 and Casac in this webinar series would help stimulate more work and collaboration to deepen and widen support for core constitutional values and democratic principles.

“It is an unfortunate reality of our times that discussions about how best to deepen democracy and how best to go about realising dignity and human rights for all, have all but disappeared from the South African landscape,” she said.

SECTION27 thus held concerns that while corruption runs rampant in government, it is proving difficult for rights-based campaigns to be effective. Therefore, the organisation is adding its focus to education on human rights.