Social Justice Chairperson at Stellenbosch University, Professor Thuli Madonsela, maintains that South Africa’s (SA) Constitution remains one of the most progressive in the world.
As the country commemorates Human Rights Month, many citizens say the adoption of the Freedom Charter is no longer inspiring.
This year’s Human Rights Month is commemorated under the theme, “Three Decades of Respect for and Promotion of Human Rights”.
Madonsela says the country has achieved a lot since the adoption of the Freedom Charter in June 1955.
“If you look at the Constitution, based on the results, you could be tempted to say that it’s no longer inspiring. But if you look at where we started, you would understand that we now have civil and political rights.”
“I mean, if you look at what’s happening in what used to be the greatest democracy in the world, the United States, and compared to here, you wouldn’t have a civil servant kicked out of their job. We can all participate in politics as equals, but also we have no free schools, we have grants, we have the SRD grant, so even on land where we haven’t done very well, it’s still better than yesterday.”
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Madonsela has called on Cabinet to exempt ordinary citizens from an increase in value-added tax (VAT).
The latest Household Affordability Index (HAI) report revealed that average workers spent over 57% of their monthly earnings on transport and electricity.
Labour and civil society organisations say a further increase in the VAT would only exacerbate the already stark divide between the rich and the poor.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to deliver his Budget Speech on the 12th of this month after it was postponed last month.
Madonsela says, “We would like Cabinet to ask itself hard questions and those hard questions will assist it in making the hard choices that it must make. For example, where there’s famine and you need to collect food, from whom do you collect most? Do you collect from those who have virtually nothing as much as you collect from those who have plenty? Or do you collect from those who have plenty and then distribute that to ensure that those who don’t have gets something.”
