Ella Smook
6 November 2008
Cape Town — The use of revolutionary language by politicians is outdated and politically irrelevant, outspoken ANC veteran and former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal said.
Speaking on Wednesday night at the inaugural Helen Suzman lecture, on the topic of The Rule of Law and Constitutionalism, and sharing the platform with opposition veteran Colin Eglin, Asmal commented on the political developments in South Africa, the Springbok emblem debacle, and the fact that he remains deeply loyal to the ANC despite quitting Parliament as a result of his party's position on the Scorpions.
"Does the after-Polokwane ruling alliance take the National Democratic Revolution seriously?" asked advocate Paul Hoffman, director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights.
"Who is the revolution aimed against, and why is it necessary for the party in power to pursue a revolution?" he asked.
In answer, Asmal said the ANC was a political party, even though it still said it was a liberation movement.
"It (the vernacular of the National Democratic Revolution) is outdated. Not offensive or harmful, but politically irrelevant.
The idea of a revolution gives young people the wrong idea. And you can do terrible things for a revolution," he said.
"That's why we need to remove this outdated notion. I know this (stated position) will get me into terrible trouble, but I am a free agent now."
About the National Convention, from which a new opposition party driven by ANC dissidents is emerging, Asmal said a campaign could "not be run on constitutionalism. It is arid and empty of meaning".
He said he did not want to enter the debate on whether the National Convention was valid or not.
"All I can say is that running a campaign on Constitutionalism is abstract.
"It doesn't mean anything in people's lives.
"You must say which values you wish to protect, and to which extent they are core values to the nature of the society you want to build."
Asmal said the enforcement of the constitution did not depend only on the courts.
"Freedom of the press is enormously important in the defence of constitutional rights, and so are Chapter 9 bodies."
He slammed as "a disgraceful thing" that the proposals flowing from an investigation commandeered by parliament into Chapter 9 bodies - the state institutions established to support constitutional democracy - had "sunk without a trace".
Chapter 9 bodies are institutions such as the Public Protector, the Human Rights Commission, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Auditor-General.
"Most of the bodies are not working," said Asmal.
"The Gender Commission has more internal ideological debates than the SACP, and the Youth Commission has no function at all. And the Human Rights Commission is too small in number," he said, adding that he would like to see a civil liberties body in South Africa, which is non-party political and holds no ideology, to expand the areas of rights of all.
Eglin said an "open debate on constitutionalism and how the constitution is functioning" was necessary.
He said he was currently part of panel of experts who were evaluating whether parliament was living up to constitutional expectations and that the panel's report would be ready soon.
Moving on, Asmal said that tolerance and reconciliation would hold the country together.
The divisive debate about the Springbok emblem violated these values, he said.
"Values have to be negotiated, not imposed," he argued, saying that after two World Cup victories, one at which former president Nelson Mandela wore the Springbok jersey, the symbol belonged to all in the country.
However there remained lots of people who supported the Springbok who had not made the leap to reconciliation themselves, he added.
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