The FW de Klerk Foundation congratulates Judge Raymond Zondo on his recent appointment to the position of Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. 

Judge Zondo has a distinguished legal career to date. From humble roots in KwaZulu-Natal, he served his articles with the late Victoria Mxenge, where his interest in human rights grew. A notable career highlight was his appointment as a member of the Goldstone Commission, which was established by then President FW de Klerk, to investigate political violence and intimidation between July 1991 and the first general election in 1994. 

The FW de Klerk Foundation announces its participation as co-applicant, with Quaker Peace Centre and AfriForum, in the action against the President of South Africa, the Deputy President and the Government of South Africa. This loose coalition represents a diverse cross-section of South Africans, who are united in seeking the return of constitutional values and the Rule of Law in all matters concerning the State.

The main thrust of the application is to seek a declaratory order from the Constitutional Court that, due to the possibility of being conflicted, the President is unable to act in the appointment of a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture. This conflict of interest is a point that the President has previously admitted before the Constitutional Court in the Nkandla matter.

Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) has just released the most recent employment statistics. The unemployment rate now stands at a 14-year high of 27.7%. If those who have stopped looking for work are included, the rate is a staggering 36.4%!

This tragic and disconcerting news is being drowned out by the “bigger” stories of state capture, leaked Gupta emails and other corruption and mismanagement in state-owned enterprises like Eskom and SAA. These stories have one golden thread running through them: mega enrichment of a few by any corrupt means necessary, using public funds and usurping state power for individual gain.

The participation of former President FW de Klerk in the meeting of the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI) on Friday, 5 May elicited unwarranted and intemperate attacks on him by a number of political leaders, commentators and media personalities. The NFDI includes eight foundations associated with former South African leaders who have come together to initiate a dialogue between South Africans within the framework of the Constitution on the serious challenges that confront South Africa.

The general gist of the attacks – which included vitriolic and unfounded accusations – was that FW de Klerk should not be participating in the national debate because he was “the last apartheid president” and was guilty of gross violations of human rights.

IT IS TIME TO START TALKING TO EACH OTHER (AGAIN)

Last Thursday was Freedom Day, the celebration of the birth of the “New South Africa” in 1994. But we are far away from the positive attitude and euphoria that were part of 27 April 1994. Instead, our country faces numerous serious challenges, amongst them the quality of leadership, corruption, state capture, racial polarisation, unemployment, poverty and inequality. Most importantly, many of these challenges are characterised by the lack of respect for our Constitution, or by lack of implementing the Constitution and its principles.

As the FW de Klerk Foundation, we are in full consensus with our fellow Foundations that our country is in a crisis, a crisis that can only be addressed if we start talking to each other again. We need to start a new National Dialogue. This National Dialogue will endeavour to bring together all South Africans at various levels, to have rational and deliberate discussions about the future we want and how we should get there. This will re-establish the truth that our future is in our own hands. We are in full agreement with the other Foundations that our National Dialogue takes as its point of departure our Constitution, the Rule of Law and our constitutional democracy. The Constitution has been our salvation in trying times – despite attempts to challenge and dismiss it. The Constitution’s fortitude is supreme and speaks to the strength of South Africans to re-emerge per the spirit of the document. 

Yesterday evening FW de Klerk spoke at the historic Frauenkirche in Dresden as part of the church’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureates lecture series. His topic was the accommodation of diversity as the main challenge to peace in the 21st century.

De Klerk pointed out that much of human history had been driven by the movement of people and the growth of populations. He said that now, once again, people were on the move. “The dominant image of our time might be the hundreds of thousands of refugees who each year are risking their lives in unseaworthy boats to reach Europe.” 

He observed that all this was happening at a time of the unsustainable growth of the human population and dramatic changes in life expectancy and fertility.

In 1950, global life expectancy was only 47 years – by 2011 it had increased to 70. A Japanese girl child born today could expect to live to 107. At the same time fertility rates in many European countries had plummeted far below the levels required to sustain present populations.

In the coming years, more and more refugees could be expected to seek safety and a better life in the prosperous and secure societies of Europe and North America.

As we stare into the abyss as a nation the morning after the night before, we are asking ourselves, how can he, why did he, and could he really? A wholesale firing of a quarter of the Cabinet is a monumental act of confidence by the President as leader of SA Inc. Sadly, in this case, the act was not in the name of government or the electorate but driven by the antithesis of accountable leadership. The words of Howard Gardner, author and psychologist, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership, came to mind as the nation woke up this morning. He describes a leader “as a person who is responsible, trusted, consistent, honest, and faithful. Leadership therefore exemplifies integrity and willingness to make sacrifices for the good of the governed”.

The actions of the President over the last 24 hours belie the very values ascribed to accountable leaders as described above but more painfully, contravene the very moral and ethical basis of the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa.

The country has come a long way precisely because of an abundance of ethical and accountable leadership, in the persons of Nelson Mandela and also FW de Klerk, who risked power and reputation to put country first at the dawn of democracy. Said FW de Klerk: “I played an integral part in helping formulating that new vision…that we must abandon apartheid and accept one united South Africa with equal rights for all, with all forms of discrimination to be scrapped from the statute book”. These powerful words attest to a man who sacrificed interest and power that came with the highest office in the land to nurture a democratic future guided by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.