Sachs says 1976 uprising was not in vain
ALEXANDRA – Retired judge Albie Sachs urges the public to exercise their Constitutional rights.
Struggle stalwart and retired Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs has urged the public to look to the courts to affirm their Constitutional rights.
Sachs, one of the architects of the Constitution, was speaking to Alex school pupils at an event commemorating the 1976 June 16 pupil uprising. The event was organised by the Greater Alex Chamber of Commerce and Industry and law firm Bowman and Gilfillan at the Kings Theatre.
Sachs said the uprising wasn’t in vain and, together with the protracted struggle, gave rise to the Constitution and ushered in a state founded on principles of democracy, equality and fairness. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution and the courts, he said, were to affirm citizens’ basic rights such as the provision of education, housing, sanitation, water and electricity.
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Sachs added that these rights should also be protected against administrative abuse, corruption and the misapplication of public funds. This in reference to the recent Nkandla debacle where the Constitutional Court made a landmark ruling censuring President Jacob Zuma and stating that he failed to uphold, protect and promote the Constitution through the overspending in the upgrade of his home.
Sachs said the collective effect of the 1976 students’ uprising, the armed struggle, mass action, and international solidarity and support, were successes which could be eroded if excesses in the misuse of public resources, corruption, lack of accountability and authoritarianism were not checked and stopped by the courts, and the public exercising their rights through the vote. “Citizens should, through the vote, apply their power to ensure their precious democracy is preserved,” he said.
“They should vote for anyone or party they believe will protect and promote their rights, avoid authoritarianism and restore hope against other challenges including crime.”
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He added that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that probed apartheid attrocities had achieved its objective by giving many victims closure on the apartheid State-inspired crimes where relatives were killed or disappeared. “It exposed the criminality of apartheid’s murders and tortures and made rulings with recommendations for prosecutions on some of the cases for the State to follow up. It [the State] was probably constrained by lack of concrete evidence.”
Sachs said the Constitution sought to affirm the culture of human liberation through its preamble that South Africa was for all who lived in it. This he said in reference to racism which occasionally resurfaced from ingrained and socially induced beliefs.
“Racism is white people’s desire and attempt to preserve past privileges at the expense of equality for all. It has no place in a democratic South Africa,” he concluded.
