Conference reflects on SA’s three decades of democracy

Durban — The 1860 Heritage Centre celebrated 30 years of democracy by hosting a reflection conference on Saturday, which highlighted the country’s milestones through the years.

Speakers included George Devenish, Karthy Govender, Relebohile Moletsane, Michael Samuel, Mosa Moshabela, Navi Pillay and Gregory Houston.

Its various sessions concentrated on the future of South Africa, higher and rural education, the burden of diseases and the interrogation of constitutional imperatives.

Kiru Naidoo, a member of the History Society affiliated to the 1860 Heritage Centre, said the conference was held to celebrate the past three decades of democracy.

“Thirty years of our democracy is an emotional milestone in the struggle for South African freedom. It’s amazing that we could have a full house on a Saturday, with academics, jurists, artists and ordinary people sharing their stories. The centre has proven to be a great space for dialogue across race, class, gender and generational lines.

“We talked about art, culture, history, law, education and even a bit of politics thrown in. The most exciting part of the programme was the active participation of learners from several KwaZulu-Natal high schools.”

Judge Navi Pillay, former UN Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the global issues pertinent to South Africa’s democracy in the past 30 years.

“A few days ago we observed Workers’ Day. The speeches we heard from workers and their representatives reminded us of the control of global capitalism, international institutions and international political actors on our social and economic rights.

“Whether it is the enforced devaluation of our currency, increases in the price of oil and petrol, the rising price of food, trade and other restrictions, we seem to be helpless in the face of the onslaught from outside that keeps our country and continent impoverished.

“The South African story teaches us that development – like life itself – is about struggle. Social change creates both winners and losers … It is a matter of grave concern that the direction in which the world is speeding is one where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting impoverished.

“We are not witnessing the fulfilment of internationally recognised, nationally specific human rights obligations, both within our country and internationally. Therefore our continuing struggle for democratic rights must be by thinking globally and acting locally,” said Pillay.

Professor Karthy Govender, retired professor of law at UKZN, reflected on our constitutional democracy.

“I think some parties are making fairly irresponsible comments about doing away with constitutional supremacy and replacing the Parliament with sovereignty.

“My view is that this Constitution is a document that I think has been properly designed to help us deal with the various issues we have. The challenges we have are not as a result of the Constitution but as a result of politicians failing us … My view is that they shouldn’t be changing the Constitution to suit their behaviour. They should be changing their behaviour to suit the Constitution.

“I think what we now need to ask ourselves is how do we ensure that the promise that’s contained in the Constitution, the promise of improving the quality of life of people, begins to be realised. And I think there we need a lot more decisive action.

“My biggest concern is that people take the failure to realise the objectives and say that we should move away from a constitutional democracy. I think that will be a serious problem.

“I hope to see a greater measure of stability in the next 30 years. I hope to see that we have the sort of march towards a full democracy continuing, and I sincerely hope that we reduce the inequality that we have between people,” said Govender.

Sunday Tribune