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Your Guide to Parliament
Why the Constitution is so Important
Information obtained from brochure issued by: Public Education Office of Parliament (021) 403 8200 |
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Introduction
In 1996, after two years of
public consultation and debate, we adopted our new Constitution. The Constitution states that we
are a constitutional democracy. This means that the constitution is the
supreme or highest law of the land and that everyone in the country must act
according to the constitution. The rules that protect
democracy are in our constitution. Under the old system, parliament was supreme
and could make any law it wanted to, even if the law took away peoples basic
rights. This can no longer happened
because now the Constitution is supreme and it will not allow the government
to make laws that are unjust. Not even the President can act against the
Constitution. Parliament cannot make laws that are not in line with the
Constitution. What is the Constitution? A Constitution is the document
that sets out the rules about how the country must be run. Our Constitution has three main
functions. It sets out the system of government and says how the country must
run. It protects the rights of citizens, and it protects democratic
principles. Making the rules of
Government The Constitution says how
government should be run. For example, it sets out the powers of Parliament,
the President and Ministers, and so on. In other fact sheets in Guide
to Parliament series, we describe many of the things that Parliament must and
must no do. These rules come from the Constitution. Protecting the rights of
citizens Chapter two of the Constitution
contains the Bill of Rights, which protects the rights of all our citizens.
There are different kinds of rights in the Bills of Rights. The first are called political
rights. These include the rights to freedom, equality and dignity, the right
to free speech, the right to organise and the rights to vote in elections. These
are the normal rights that occur in all democratic constitutions all over the
world. They are the rights that ensure democracy and freedom. |
The
second group of rights are called socio-economic rights. In South Africa,
where a large part of the struggle for freedom was the struggle to improve
the lives of people, these rights are important because they place a duty on
the government to try to solve the problems that people have about matters
such as education, health, water, housing and land. The
third group of rights include such rights as the right to protected
environment, the right to information and the right to just administrative action.
By putting these rights in our constitution, South Africa leads the world. The
Constitution also sets up several independent bodies to help citizens enforce
their rights for example the Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector
and the Gender Equality Commission. Protecting the Democratic Principles The
Constitution sets out and protects certain important democratic principles. South Africa is a democracy This
means that there must be regular elections in which all citizens can vote for
the government of their choice. The Constitution itself is protected This
is why it is more difficult to change the Constitution than it is to change a
normal law. Independent courts are very powerful, and are the custodians of
the Constitution. There must be a separation of powers The
power of the state is divided up into three arms. The
first arm, the Executive (the Cabinet), consists of the President, Ministers
and Deputy-Minister. The Cabinet is also in charge of government. Cabinet
Members are accountable to Parliament. The
second arms is the Legislature, which passes laws, and represents the
interest of the public, as well as uphold the principles of the Constitution Parliament and You The
Constitution belongs to the people of South Africa. It is there to protect
you. This is why it is so important to understand what work Parliament is
doing. |
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