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Drafting the South African constitution: an account by Justice Albie Sachs

06 November 2024 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo BORN2SHOOT

inaugural Albie Sachs Prestige Lecture 2024 — From the left (back row): Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Serges Kamga; Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Justice Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana; Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation at the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Vasu Reddy; Project Director of the Albie Collection and Chair of the Albie Sachs Trust (ASCAROL), Vanessa September; and acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Philippe Burger. From the left (front row): Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Anthea Rhoda; Emeritus Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs; and Chief Justice of South Africa, Mandisa Maya.

The Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) hosted the inaugural Albie Sachs Prestige Lecture on the UFS Bloemfontein Campus on 30 October 2024. The lecture – delivered by Emeritus Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs – was titled, ‘Who actually wrote the Constitution, and why they gave eleven unelected judges the power to strike down laws and actions of the democratically chosen parliament and president’?

In attendance at the lecture were Chief Justice of South Africa, Mandisa Maya; acting Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Anthea Rhoda; Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Justice Nolwazi Mabindla-Boqwana; Senior State Advocate, Antoinette Ferreira; Project Director of the Albie Collection and Chair of the Albie Sachs Trust for Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law (ASCAROL), Vanessa September; as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Serges Kamga, among other high-profile guests.

In his opening address, Prof Kamga indicated that the lecture aimed to provide some responses to the core questions about the constitution and constitutionalism in South Africa. As such, Prof Rhoda echoed this sentiment, highlighting that, “when it comes to the events that preceded, surrounded, and followed the drafting and adoption of our country’s constitution, there are few commentators better placed than Judge Albie Sachs”.

The making of the constitution

As part of his lecture, Justice Sachs gave a detailed account of the making of the South African constitution. According to Justice Sachs, a total of 490 members of parliament came together to draft the constitution, which included members of the National Assembly and the Senate. These members had been mandated by 20 million South Africans who wanted a better future. As such, he described that moment as a “huge accomplishment on the part of the liberation movement”.

However, he highlighted that fulfilling this mandate was not an easy task, as it required an enormous amount of thought and mobilisation of legal technology to enable those in power at the time to surrender control of the army, police, and to some extent the economy and law-making, among other aspects. These negotiations resulted in a two-state process of constitution-making, which included the drafting of an interim constitution and the establishment of a parliament that would draft the final constitution.

Justice Sachs indicated that once the constitutional assembly sent the constitutional text to the constitutional court to ensure its compliance with agreed principles, it was found non-compliant in eleven respects, for which they had to find solutions in order for the constitution to be adopted.

As he concluded his address, Justice Sachs underscored his pride in having been involved in what he describes as a wonderfully rich story.

Forging a partnership

Subsequent to the address by Justice Sachs, the Faculty of Law and ASCAROL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), formalising the Albie Sachs Prestige Lecture as an annual event and allowing further collaboration. In fact, Prof Kamga highlighted that if Justice Sachs was not available to deliver a lecture, the trust would appoint someone in his place. To further solidify this partnership, the faculty was gifted with some of Justice Sachs’ works, including books and other materials, for its library.

Prof Rhoda expressed gratitude for this collaborative effort, saying, “We are grateful to have found such a partner in Justice Albie Sachs and the Albie Sachs Trust. May this relationship continue to blossom and bear fruit – to the benefit of our young leaders of tomorrow.”

News Archive

UFS takes lead in improving quality of training in economics in schools

2006-06-20

The fourth international workshop for trainers in the National Council on Economic Education’s (NCEE) outreach programme for Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East will be presented in Bloemfontein from 18-24 June 2006.

“Because of the rapid success we achieved in the Free State with similar workshops in Economics education that were presented by the NCEE the past year, we have now invited representatives from education departments and universities of five other provinces to attend the international workshop for trainers,” said Prof Klopper Oosthuizen, lecturer at the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Agricultural Economics and initiator of the cooperative agreement with the NCEE.

The UFS and the Free State Department of Education are the NCEE’s first partners in Africa who received this training. “The attendance of the five provinces and universities is the first step in the extension of the programme to the rest of the country,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

The NCEE is based in the United States of America (USA) and the workshop forms part of the council’s effort to improve the quality of the training of Economics teachers and lecturers across the world.

“South Africa is urgently in need of efforts to improve the integration of black people into the market economy. An understanding of how markets work is one of the pillars of democracy. Equipping young people with economic understanding and skills will help empower them for responsible roles as individuals and citizens,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

According to Prof Oosthuizen representatives from the education departments of the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West will also be attending the international workshop for trainers. Representatives from the Universities of Rhodes, of KwaZulu-Natal, North West and the Durban University of Technology as well as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology will also attend the workshop.

During this workshop teachers and lecturers in Economics will receive certificates.

Various subjects will be covered during the workshop such as world trade patterns, cost and benefits of free trade, exchange rates and international finance. The training will be done by representatives from the NCEE by using methods such as direct instruction and role play.

The NCEE is also in the process of training teachers and learning facilitators in the Free State in an effort to improve the quality of Economics classes in secondary schools.

“A group of 84 teachers and learning facilitators were trained in December 2005, 50 were trained in January 2006 and the last group of 40 will be trained at the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 26 June - 1 July 2006,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

During this seminar the teachers will be trained in issues such as broad social goals in an economy, economic decision making, government’s role in a market economy and fiscal policy. The training will also be done by representatives from the NCEE.

The NCEE has been working together with international partners since 1992 to strengthen their Economics teaching systems. They have already succeeded in increasing literacy in Economics at schools in the USA and more than 20 East Block countries. More than 1,5 million learners in the East Block countries have already been served by this initiative. Since 2004 the NCEE’s focus has moved away from the East Block countries to Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

“Our future plans include strengthening the growing partnership between the UFS, the Free State Department of Education and the NCEE. We also want to establish a council and centres for economic education which will serve as an umbrella for our joint efforts,” said Prof Oosthuizen.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
20 June 2006

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