Thirty years after the establishment of the Constitutional Court in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa is promising citizens a range of institutional, infrastructure, financial, administrative, and legal support to allow the judiciary to execute its duties independently, effectively and with dignity.

Delivering the keynote address on the Constitutional Court’s thirtieth anniversary, at Constitution Hill on Friday, Ramaphosa said government support was crucial to maintaining judicial independence.

He acknowledged significant challenges with constitutionalism in South Africa today, noting a disconnect between the promise of the country’s Constitution and the lived realities of South Africans.

“The promise of the Constitution is far from fully realised. Persistent inequality, threats to judicial independence, lack of implementation of court orders, and erosion of trust in institutions remain pressing challenges,” he said.

The advancement of socioeconomic rights had not come as far as government wished, he admitted, particularly rights relating to housing and basic services.

Ramaphosa said it would forever remain a blight on the country’s democracy that the applicant in the ground-breaking Grootboom judgment, Irene Grootboom, died in 2008 without her dream of a decent house being fulfilled.

Ramaphosa said deepening respect for constitutionalism across all sectors must start with the State, noting the irony of lauding the Constitutional Court’s progressive judgments while the State, in many of the cases, had had to be compelled by the Court to fulfil its obligations.

He noted that this pointed to widespread and systematic shortcomings in service delivery that must be addressed.

“…our people should not have to resort to litigation to have their rights realised, and this is the paramount consideration. At the same time, the potential for reducing litigation against the State must be addressed and this requires structural change,” he said.

Ramaphosa noted the 2022/2023 Judiciary Annual Report, which pointed to challenges being experienced by the Constitutional Court with respect to finalising matters against targets.

He said this was “no doubt” owing to the significant volume of cases the Court was dealing with, highlighting that the 2013 changes to the Court’s jurisdiction, which was extended to deal with matters of general public importance, had further contributed to this workload.

He said enhancing access to justice and improving Court services had been allocated for in this year’s Budget, and he said there had been increases to improve superior court services, for judicial education and support, for the filling of vacant posts and to address other funding shortfalls.

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa noted the Constitutional Court’s contribution to educating South Africans about their constitutional rights.

“Through principled constitutional interpretation, it has contributed greatly towards advancing national cohesion and reconciliation. This objective of national cohesion and reconciliation has been executed by the court. Through its decisions, it has ensured that all people are treated fairly and equally under the law - thus affirming the legitimacy of the legal order and promoting a sense of belonging among all citizens,” he stated.

He cited some of the progressive, far-reaching judgments handed down by the Constitutional Court. These include S v Makwanyane that abolished the death penalty; the Grootboom case that centred on the right to housing; and Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign that dealt with the right to healthcare and access to HIV/Aids treatment.

He said the Constitutional Court had developed a “rich and transformative jurisprudence”.

“The Court’s judgments have advanced the rights of same-sex couples, of women in traditional marriages, of the sick and infirm, of children, of voters, and of the most marginalised members of society. They have affirmed that dignity, equality and freedom are not reserved for the powerful but guaranteed to all,” he added.

Ramaphosa paid tribute to the Justices past and present, to the clerks, legal scholars, and advocates whose work he said had deepened the country’s constitutional culture.

“Their integrity, intellect, and independence have given life to the ideals of our Constitution. I want to use this opportunity to pay tribute to those of our founding ConCourt Justices who are with us here today, namely Justices [Albie] Sachs and [Kate] O’Regan,” he said.

SAFEGUARDING CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES

Meanwhile, in celebrating the anniversary, the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for increased safeguarding of South Africa’s constitutional values.

DA spokesperson on Justice and Constitutional Development Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach said the Court’s jurisdiction was expanded over time to address gaps in the judicial system and strengthen constitutional supremacy in South Africa.

She explained that today, the court had final jurisdiction in all matters, and it had the power to review actions of the President, organs of State and Parliament.