Remarks by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the launch of the book ‘Reflections on the Bills of Rights, Parliament, Cape Town
Thank you for inviting me to the launch of this book, a valuable collection of accounts of a pivotal moment in the birth of our new nation.
The Bill of Rights that we celebrate today was many decades in the making. It was forged in the everyday struggles of ordinary South Africans for food, shelter and medicine.
It was forged in their desire for acceptance, recognition and dignity. It was nourished by the sweat and tears of the displaced people of this country, who had been made pariahs in the land of their birth.
The Bill of Rights has enabled us together to reclaim our humanness and together to correct the atrocities of the past.
On the day that the Constitutional Assembly voted to adopt the first full text of the new Constitution, we said:
This constitution, with its Bill of Rights, is the mirror of South African society.
It reflects both the history from which we have emerged, and the values we now cherish – human dignity, equality and freedom.
It proclaims to the world that we are a society committed to democracy, to the rule of law and the protection of human rights.
It proclaims to all South Africans, the landless, the homeless, the women, the workers and the children of this country, that their basic needs and aspirations matter enough to be included in the country's constitution.
It celebrates the richness of the diversity of cultures, religions and beliefs of South Africans, and affirms that all belong as equals in our one nation...
Through this Constitution, we hope to transform our society from one that is based on injustice and strife to one based on justice and peace.
This Bill of Rights reminds us that we are a resilient nation; a nation which is turning the misfortunes of the past into a new and brighter future.
It provides for us a moving account of who we are, what we are capable of and what we aspire to be.
The Bill of Rights is much more than an instrument of the law.
It is a moral imperative.
It provides a set of values that affirm our humanity and imbues us all with a sense of belonging, of being and of solidarity with our fellow woman and man.
Twenty years later, I would like to believe that we have done much to use this Bill of Rights to improve the lives of our people.
There is no South African alive today who does not know that they have rights enshrined in the supreme law of the land.
They may not all be familiar with the Constitution, but they have a clear sense that they are entitled to certain freedoms.
They also have a clear sense that no-one may deprive them of these freedoms.
However, while we have made great progress, our efforts to advance reconciliation and reconstruction still requires of us to do more.
We have yet to overcome the persistent legacy of intergenerational poverty and racial and social exclusion.
Twenty years after we adopted the Constitution, we are still confronted with high rates of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Many of our people have yet to realise the right to housing, health care, food, water and social security.
That is the central challenge of our time.
This is a Bill of Rights designed not only to preserve and protect basic freedoms of association, expression, religious belief and movement.
It is designed to extend to the poor and marginalised the material necessities that we believe are required for a life of dignity.
This makes the Bill of Rights an instrument of social change.
It informs policy and demands meaningful action.
It means that the most vulnerable in our society – women, children, the elderly and disabled – have the same rights as men and the abled bodied.
But it also means that we need to act – inside and outside of the State – to ensure that they can exercise those rights.
The Bill of Rights imposes obligations on those who wield state power.
It requires that we put the people first in a system of participatory democracy and that those elected into office govern always and only in the interests of the people.
It requires that we are good custodians of state resources, deploying them effectively and efficiently to meet people’s basic needs.
And so, let this book serve as a reminder of what the Bill of Rights means to us as a people, what it means for our future.
Let this be a reminder of the voice of our people.
There is a legitimate expectation among our people that this Bill of Rights can help to put food on the table, create work and produce prosperity for all.
Each day their children learn in mud schools, under trees and in unsafe conditions because they want a better future than the one apartheid shaped for their parents.
Some of them come from child-headed households, the consequences of a nation ravaged by disease and preventable deaths.
Some of them live in Diepsloot, where women and children live daily in fear because we have not yet defeated the sins of patriarchy, anarchy and violence.
It is for them that this Bill of Rights exists.
As we read this Bill of Rights 20 years later, we have reason to proud.
We have reason to celebrate.
But we have no reason to be complacent.
We have done well, but we need to do far more and much better.
Let today serve as a reminder of the promise we made to our people 20 years ago.
Let us continue the fight for a better life for all.
Working together we can and will do more.
I thank you.
