The New Divide in SA Politics

On Tuesday 22 July, DA Leader Helen Zille delivered a seminal lecture
to the Wits Law School on 'The Retreat of Constitutionalism.'

It sets out the new divide in our politics between those who value the
Constitution as the supreme law and those in the ANC who want to
subvert it in favour of the 'higher law of the party.'

I hope you enjoy reading it

The Retreat of Constitutionalism
Lecture delivered at the Wits University Law School by Helen Zille
22 July 2008

Our democratic republic is now 14 years old. At birth, it was a
wonder of the world. Many called it a miracle. They felt that
something supernatural had happened to transform a country
characterised by oppression, racial conflict and violence into one of
peaceful democracy. But there was no miracle. Instead, and much more
to our credit, there was a victory of commonsense and decency. This
did not emerge from nowhere. It represented a triumph of ideas, once
suppressed and marginalised, whose time had eventually come.

Opponents, often vehement opponents, sat down together and through
sensible deliberation and principled negotiation produced something
that was greater than any of them, an excellent Constitution - the
bedrock of our democracy, the guarantor of our liberties

14 years later, it troubles me profoundly to say that our young
constitutional democracy is under threat. Are these the growing-pains
of adolescence, from which we will emerge stronger and more resilient?
Or will they prove terminal to the great project which bore such hope
in its infancy?

The threat we face comes from within, and is directed towards the
heart of our democracy, the Constitution itself. An ambitious and
influential group within the ruling party is preparing for power by
any means necessary and it is prepared to undermine the spirit and
letter of our Constitution to do so. They believe their triumph to be
more important than the welfare of South Africa. This is a time of
peril, and we can only appreciate the danger if we look hard at what
it is that sustains our society and what it is that preserves our
liberties.

[Click here to continue reading]

http://www.da.org.za/da/Site/Eng/Speeches/Speech.asp?ID=1649