We, the People. Albie Sachs

We, the People

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We, the People

By the same author

The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (Harvill Press, 1966)

Stephanie on Trial (Harvill Press, 1968)

Justice in South Africa (University of California Press, 1974)

Sexism and the Law (Martin Robinson, 1979)

Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter (Grafton, 1990)

Protecting Human Rights in a New South Africa (Oxford University Press, 1990)

Advancing Human Rights in South Africa (Oxford University Press, 1992)

The Free Diary of Albie Sachs (Random House, 2004)

The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law (Oxford University Press, 2009)

Published in South Africa by:

Wits University Press

1 Jan Smuts Avenue

Johannesburg, 2001

www.witspress.co.za

Published edition © Wits University Press 2016

First published 2016

ISBN: 978-1-86814-998-8

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.

All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press at the above address in case of any omissions or errors.

Cover photograph © Steve Gordon (www.musicpics.co.za)

Edited by Hazel Cuthbertson

Proofread by Elsabé Birkenmayer

Indexed by Marlene Burger

Designed and produced by Fire and Lion

Acknowledgements

Mind-wrestling with Alex Dodd has been a delight. Thanks, Alex; you are strong, agile, nuanced and stylish – the perfect editor. And conceptual engagement with Corina van der Spoel has been equally pleasurable. Thanks, Corina; you are simpatica, calm, focused, deft and authoritative – the perfect project manager. Between the two of you, what would have been just thousands and thousands of words became a book.

1988

Nineteen eighty-eight, and it’s raining, drizzling – nothing unusual about that in Ireland. I’m sitting in the kitchen of Kader and Louise Asmal in suburban Dublin, feeling very, very at home – nothing unusual about that. And we’re doing work that we know is historic. It was one of those ‘pinch-me’ moments (maybe the first real ‘pinch-me’ moment for me) – knowing that we were entering into a whole new phase, not simply denouncing, imagining, mobilising; but beginning to craft the foundations of a new society. What was unusual was that, for that whole weekend, Kader didn’t smoke once inside that house! The way we put it, we were converting the Freedom Charter into an operational document that would protect the rights for which people in South Africa had been fighting.

2016

I was rushing to catch my plane at the airport when a middle-aged African man blocked my path and flung his arms around me. ‘Thank you, thank you,’ he kept repeating. ‘It wasn’t me,’ I interrupted, ‘I left the Court some years ago.’ But he kept his grip and carried on offering thanks. I had to pull myself away to reach the gate in time. But then as the plane lifted off my heart swelled with emotion. The Constitutional Court had ordered the President to pay back the public funds overspent on his private home. There was hope. Millions of ordinary South Africans were celebrating. This book is dedicated to them all. It is they who ensure that the Constitution lives on, deeply rooted in the realities and ideals of the nation.

Contents

FIGURES

INTRODUCTION

1.IN THE BEGINNING

The Future of Multiculturalism in South Africa: The vision of the Constitution

The Original ‘Pinch-me’ Moment

2.HOPE AND CAUTION IN EXILE

The First and Last Word – Freedom

3.WE HAVE TO MISTRUST OURSELVES

Preparing Ourselves for Power

Perfectibility and Corruptibility

4.INVENTING A CONSTITUTION