There are no ‘sunset clauses’ on Bill of Rights
The ‘second transition’ is a smokescreen for bad service delivery
Today we honour the bravery of those who fell in the Sharpeville massacre. Because of their sacrifices and those of countless others, we are custodians today of one of the most progressive, human-rights inspired documents in the world. It is a beacon that those who came before us never had: our Constitution and its Bill of Rights.
And so is with deep reverence and pride that we can say today: they did not die in vain.
It was this impulse that animated the young Mohandas Gandhi after he was pushed off a train in Pietermaritzburg, and the founding fathers of the African National Congress one hundred years ago; a young Steve Biko, who paid the ultimate price, and a certain young journalist who fearlessly uncovered his violent murder; our nation’s father, Nelson Mandela, and our nation’s conscience, Archbishop Desmond Tutu; the feisty Helen Suzman, a lone opposition voice in the apartheid parliament, and countless other individuals who bravely played their part in bringing us here today.
This is why, in our parliamentary democracy, our constitution is sovereign. There are no ‘sunset clauses’ on the Bill of Rights. To say that the codified national consensus has “proved inadequate and inappropriate for our social and economic transformation phase” as Hon Minister Radebe has said is unproven, it is irresponsible and, quite frankly, Mr Speaker, it is disrespectful.
– Lindiwe Mazibuko
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