President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that while South Africa faces numerous challenges, its democratic order is in good health, anchored in a progressive Constitution.

Last week marked 30 years since the Constitutional Court convened for the first time, with Ramaphosa writing in his weekly letter to the nation that this showed a “new, bold chapter” of the country’s democratic journey.

The establishment of a specialised Constitutional Court was a key facet of the multiparty negotiations that preceded the democratic transition from Apartheid, Ramaphosa said.

“Whilst some believed that existing structures such as the Supreme Court could perform this task, the African National Congress advocated for a new court that was untainted by the past.

“Just as drafters of the Constitution itself drew heavily on the experiences of other countries – when considering the model of the Court we looked to other jurisdictions for inspiration,” he explained.

While the Constitutional Court draws on the wisdom and support of international partners, it is uniquely South African in its outlook, its orientation and values, he added.

South Africans should honour the proud history of the court, Ramaphosa said as he noted that over the past 30 years the Constitutional Court advanced an aspirational egalitarian ethos in far-reaching ways.

He cited the Court’s first case in 1995, on the constitutionality of the death penalty, which he said set the tone for a “humanistic jurisprudence” grounded in human dignity.

“Its landmark judgments are well-known on issues such as the death penalty, access to HIV/Aids treatment, prisoners’ right to vote, and others. Yet its less well-known judgments that have had equally dramatic impact on matters such as upholding the rights of pensioners to not having their old age grants disrupted, the rights of smallholder farmers to not have their livestock impounded under colonial-era ordinances, the rights of women in customary marriages, and upholding the rights of rail commuters to safety,” Ramaphosa explained.

He said the composition of the Constitutional Court bench, which held judges of various backgrounds and views on the law, had played an important role in shaping the Court’s jurisprudence.

“In 2007 former Chief Justice Pius Langa highlighted the centrality of judicial diversity, saying this was not confined solely to an appropriate racial or gender mix, but that a wide range of views and life experiences are represented,” Ramaphosa pointed out.

Langa has since highlighted that judicial diversity is likely to increase judicial dissent and improve the quality of decisions.

Ramaphosa noted an Ipsos poll released earlier this year, which found that most South Africans view democracy, human rights and the rule of law as universal values that all nations deserved and must aspire towards.

Most respondents also believed that South Africa was a good example of a democracy and had a responsibility to be a moral leader in the world, he said, noting that this confidence was a result of the abiding trust the public had in the country’s Constitutional Court.