‘This is the country we were fighting for, but not the society,’ says Justice Albie Sachs at social justice lecture

"Every year on the World Day of Social Justice, we are reminded of the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, unemployment, gender equity, social wellbeing, and justice for all," said Professor Wim de Villiers, rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, at the fourth Annual Social Justice Lecture on 21 February 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

By Tamsin Metelerkamp

22 Feb 2023

The fourth Annual Social Justice Lecture at Stellenbosch University saw Justice Albie Sachs addressing the question, ‘Is this the country we were fighting for?’ His reflections paint a picture of hope for a country where the Constitution is strong, even as society remains flawed.

“People remember their first kiss — I remember the first time I went to jail. I was 17, a second-year law student... [in] December 1952, and I was leading a group of three students from [the University of Cape Town] and one white worker from England into the general post office, to sit on a seat marked non-whites only.”

These were the words of Justice Albie Sachs, anti-apartheid activist and former Constitutional Court Judge, at the fourth Annual Social Justice Lecture at Stellenbosch University on Tuesday, 21 February. His address explored the question, “Is this the country we were fighting for?”

"It's not a fair country, it's not a safe country, but it's an open country," said Justice Albie Sachs, human rights activist and former Constitutional Court judge, of South Africa at the fourth Annual Social Justice Lecture on 21 February 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

“The answer, which seems to come as a total surprise to everybody… is yes, this is the country we were fighting for,” he told the audience.

“This is the country we were fighting for, but it’s not the society we were fighting for, and it’s important to make that distinction and not to… undermine, not only the gains we’ve made, but the mechanisms we need to deal with all those problems.

“I’m optimistic that we have the country that can deal with the problems in society. That’s an optimism based not simply on fantasy or wishful thinking but on my life experience. And that experience starts with the 17-year-old saying… ‘Mayibuye iAfrika’ in front of the cops, and being hauled off to prison.”

Sachs reflected on his experiences under apartheid, including travelling to Kliptown, Soweto, to adopt the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in 1955; discussing guidelines for a new South Africa with ANC delegates gathered at the University of Zambia in 1988; and witnessing the rolling mass action behind the Defiance Campaign over the years.

Professor Thuli Madonsela and Justice Albie Sachs at the fourth Annual Social Justice Lecture at Stellenbosch University on 21 February 2023. (Photo: Tamsin Metelerkamp)

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“On the Constitutional Committee, in exile, we said to our comrades, ‘We can’t draft the constitution… Only the people of South Africa can draft the Constitution, through their democratically elected representatives on South African soil,’” said Sachs.

“We got that, and we got that through rolling mass action.”

It was not lawyers who created the Constitution, emphasised Sachs, but the 20-million people who voted in the first election in 1994.

“Why have we got the most progressive Constitution in the world? It’s not because we have the most progressive lawyers in the world. It’s because that Constitution constituted us as a nation and was drafted by people who had fought for their liberty,” he said.

Sachs described his own hurt and anger when seeing people he once fought with against apartheid turn to corruption; people who were once brave and admired.

“When I read the report of the Zondo Commission, it hurts… and yet part of me says, ‘Wow’. Our government set up the commission, our chief justice sat on the commission. It’s not just a few brave journalists. Our people demanded exposure, our people were vocal, our people went out into the streets and said ‘down with corruption’,” he said.

“The very information about the corruption that hurts so much in a way is also a source of pleasure — it’s not hidden away; we know these things.”

In that sense, the country’s institutions were working, said Sachs. They provided truthful information and the right to vote.

“It’s not a fair country, it’s not a safe country, but it’s an open country. And by that, I mean the country, the institutions, the way we’ve fought together to create… our constitutional democracy, that is what gives me hope.”

The Social Justice Lecture coincided with World Day of Social Justice, celebrated on Monday, 20 February. Speaking at the lecture, Professor Wim de Villiers, rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, described World Day of Social Justice as a reminder of the need to promote efforts tackling poverty, exclusion, unemployment, gender equity, social well-being and justice for all.

“This requires consistent and conscious, relentless effort daily to tackle these challenges and to ultimately effect positive change,” he said.

Every South African can play a role in addressing the country’s issues by sharing their skills, talents and abilities, with a focus on being in service to society, according to De Villiers.

Professor Thuli Madonsela, director of the Centre for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, said, “When we’re talking about building this better South Africa, it should be a world of opportunity for every person… but to arrive there we have to do some rebalancing. Justice Sachs is saying we don’t have to wait for the law… we can do some of it in our own spaces.” DM/MC

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