Speech delivered by Justice Pius Langa,
Chief Justice of South Africa
Graduation Ceremony for the Masters Degrees in Human Rights and
Democratization in Africa
8 December 2006
First let me express my thanks to the institution for asking me to speak on the
occasion of this graduation ceremony. As is the case with all graduations, it is an
auspicious occasion. It marks perseverance and success, gratitude and
exultation; excitement and a sense of relief at the accomplishment of a mission.
For that you, the gradaunts deserve heartiest congratulations. I am sure also that
you will not begrudge your parents, relatives, friends, significant others and
mentors from sharing in this moment of success. They gave material and moral
support, without which you could not have made it. That underscores the
interdependence that we prize so highly in all spheres of our lives. After all, a
person is a person because of other persons [“umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu.”]
The Masters programme that you have just completed is unique on the continent.
While offering a very high quality of academic exposure, it also provides a
practical perspective on the theory that you have learnt through components
such as the field trip and the internships you have done at various human rights
organizations. The programme has also exposed you to other cultures by
bringing you together as students from all over Africa and providing you with an
opportunity to experience life in another African country. This places you in a
position to assess the true state of human rights observance in Africa and to
identify the potholes and pitfalls that lie on the road to their full realization.
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Hopefully, it equips you to identify solutions to the vast challenges that still lie
ahead.
With that in mind, my speech will touch on the main challenges, as I see them, to
the realization of human rights in Africa, and give some tentative suggestions
about how some of these issues can be addressed. The objective is to enlist
you, today’s graduands, to be committed corps, to espouse the programme
towards Africa’s reconstruction and recovery. The objective is to put the
observance of human rights where it belongs: at the fore-front of our list of
priorities for the continent.
Why this pre-occupation with human rights? The Amnesty International Report
2006, in its global overview, tells us that “[t]he year 2005 posed some major
challenges for governments: intractable conflicts, terrorist attacks, the relentless
spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic, the persistence of widespread extreme poverty
and natural disasters. These challenges should have been met with responses
based on human rights principles. All too often they were not. Individually and
collectively, governments continued to pursue policies that often sacrificed
human rights for political or economic expediency.”1 Elsewhere, the report refers
to the commitment by the international community to “make poverty history”. It
points out that while government leaders pronounced their intention to reduce
poverty, particularly in Africa, most of the targets set under the UN’s 15-year
Millennium Development Goals, showed little, if any prospect of being met.
1
Global Overview at page p7.
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Turning specifically to Africa, the report complains of the continuing perpetration
of grave human rights violations, including killings, rape and other forms sexual
violence. It states that “[m]illions of men, women and children remained
impoverished and deprived of clean water, adequate housing, food education
and primary health care.” It then speaks of widespread and systemic corruption
and the apparent indifference of governments to providing their citizens with the
most basic economic and social rights.
In short, what we have seen and continue to experience in many parts of Africa
are horrendous events that have affected the lives of thousands of people and
stunted their positive growth in the political, social and economic spheres. This is
the world that my generation is introducing you to. Surely it makes good sense to
say that your generation must send the message, loud and clear, that you will not
allow the things I have mentioned and certain others to continue to happen.
Africa simply cannot afford to entertain them, nor can it bear more genocides,
territorial wars and war-lordism; the fostering, promotion and use of child soldiers
to fight in wars designed to satisfy the ambitions of grown men; the wanton
abuse and rape perpetrated on women and children; schemes that result in
hunger, starvation and extreme poverty. It makes good sense to say that your
generation cannot and will not tolerate these evils; instead, our energies will be
dedicated towards building, protecting and promoting peace, justice, the rule of
law and democracy.
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There are hopeful signs on the African continent. The structures of the African
Union, NEPAD and other initiatives offer a platform on which we can lay proper
foundations for proper development. But let me mention one or two challenges
that our world is looking up to you to meet.
HIV/AIDS
Just last week the world commemorated World AIDS day for the 18th time. In
Africa and sub saharan Africa in particular, every day has been a day living with
this scourge and in just two decades AIDS has become the leading cause of
death in Africa. Sub Saharan Africa has borne the brunt of this: it is home to over
60% of all people living with HIV/AIDS.2 Though the statistics may be uncertain
and give cause for debate, the devastating present and potential impact of the
epidemic is not.
Its prevalence is highest amongst the age group that is
supposed to be the most economically productive and that is responsible for
raising the future generation.3 The social impact can be seen in the increased
number of destitute and orphaned children whose future is now uncertain and the
elderly who are burdened with the emotional and economic care of dying children
leading to a downward spiral of poverty and despair.
The World Bank
<http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/EXTAFRHEANUTPO
P/EXTAFRREGTOPHIVAIDS/0,,contentMDK:20411613~menuPK:717155~pagePK:34004173~piPK:340
03707~theSitePK:717148,00.html> ( accessed 15 February 2006)
3 Human Siences Research Council <http://www.hsrc.ac.za/media/2005/11/20051130_1Factsheet2.html>
(accessed on 15 February 2006)
2
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But there is hope. Medical science continues to make great strides. It will be
years however before their impact is fully realized. In the meantime, we have to
live with the reality that we are facing this devastating challenge.
You come out of this institution with a qualification that lays heavy emphasis on
human rights practices. To those who have been affected and infected, those
whose expectations of the future are dominated by helplessness and despair, it
is you, with your qualification, who will bring hope and the energy of life. To those
who suffer discrimination and stigmatization because of being infected, it is you
who will point the way to the restoration of their dignity. Your role is not the
cloistered life of elitism and self aggrandisement; your higher mission is to
translate helplessness into a hope that brings life. In the fight against this enemy
the foot soldiers you must defeat are poverty, illiteracy and ignorance which bring
various other ills in their wake, such as gender based discrimination and abuse
as well as prejudice at many levels of society. It is at the eradication of these
problems that our energies must be directed.
Inequalities in society
There is no doubt that gender inequality lies at the heart of most of the problems
in our society. It is foundational to violence and abuse of women and children
which was the focus of the recent 16 days of activism. Numerous international
and regional instruments4 have painstaking provisions directed at the elimination
A comprehensive mention of these is to be found in the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and
People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003/).
4
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of gender-based inequality. Many countries subscribe to these instruments,
covenants and protocols. Like constitutions, with high sounding phrases and
great ideals, these instruments are written on paper and their observance and
real impact depends on the will of governments, stakeholders, activists and a
vigilant civil society.
Violence against women and children, just one ugly manifestation of this
inequality, poses a serious obstacle to the full enjoyment of their other basic
rights. In most African societies women are the primary care givers to children
and the violence and discrimination also impacts on their children in a negative
way. It is an assault not only on the bodies of the victims, but on their dignity and
to the achievement of equality between men and women.
Women constitute about half of Africa’s population and whilst they remain
marginalized and victimized we cannot talk of meaningful progress in removing
some of the other problems that impede the realization of human rights.
In Africa discrimination against women is reflected and rooted in cultural
practices which makes it a very difficult issue to address. These are attitudes and
practices that cannot be changed overnight, nor, in many instances, can they be
changed from the outside. The challenge for you therefore is to find ways of
bridging the perceived gap between culture and human rights in a way that leads
to the promotion of both.
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Our Courts in South Africa have recognized the impact of inequality in our
society. We have acknowledged that because of our past, ours is a glaringly
unequal society. There is extreme poverty side-by-side with great wealth; there is
homelessness side-by-side with large concentrations of property in the hands of
a few. We have stressed that while the conditions of extreme inequality persist,
the wonderful promises of the Constitution will remain a distant dream for the
majority of our people.
South Africa is not the only African country in which social inequality persists.
About 50% of the population in sub Saharan Africa live on less than a dollar a
day. The time has come for economic inequality and poverty in general to be
seen and addressed as human rights issues. There is no doubt that poverty
affects the ability of people to access their basic human rights and denies them
access to the structures of justice that are meant to intervene when there are
complaints against the failures of governments. Thus as human rights activists,
the eradication of poverty is a cardinal area to focus on. As lawyers, we do this
by ensuring that every person can access their basic rights and that justice does
not become a commodity accessed only by the wealthy.
Other challenges
Our society is beset with other challenges. Regarding education as one of the
priorities is paramount. Alas, we still have a long way to go.
We still see
documentaries and hear stories of schools where no schooling takes place. As a
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lawyer, I know that this little boy or girl whose school is dysfunctional for any
reason whatsoever is a lawyer lost to the profession; is a doctor lost to the
medical world; is an accountant who will never be able to count.
We cry
transformation everyday, yet that little girl at that dysfunctional school is
transformation denied. There are other problems.
Unemployment, disease, escalating crime are just some of them. They all need a
national effort to eradicate. Many governments are doing their best to deal with
these problems. Surprisingly, however, lack of political will is quite often one of
the biggest obstacles to effecting true change. That is where non-governmental
organizations and
other organs
of civil society
play a role in holding
governments accountable, not only through the courts but also by making use of
and strengthening other democratic structures. Quite clearly, governments
cannot and should not be expected to shoulder the burden alone. That is why
well-trained women and men who work in both the public and private sectors are
the life blood of the much needed services to our people. In this regard, it would
be nice if we could begin to see, in significant numbers, the reversal of steady
flight of educated young minds out of the continent. As I have already indicated,
there is work to be done here.
Conclusion
A question for us, everyone of us, is what is the nature of our engagement and
our contribution to make the next century truly an African century. You, the
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graduands, have been armed and equipped and you are ready to face these
challenges on behalf of your respective communities. Do not be intimidated by
the challenge, or daunted by the magnitude of what needs to be done. You are
the hope of all of Africa and you will not fail. Your qualification gives you the
tools, the implements, to correct that which is wrong in our society. But you have
a choice, to do or not to do. I have no doubt that you will exercise your choice
wisely. I trust that today’s graduands will pass through here with a sense of
mission. Each one of you will, I hope, find your own way to meet these
challenges. Being an African requires nothing less of us.
I thank you.
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