Judith February joined Africa Melane on Cape Talk’s Weekend Breakfast to chat about her new book of Turning and Turning: Exploring the Complexities of South Africa’s Democracy.

February is highly respected writer and commentator on issues related to South African politics, democracy and civil society. Turning and Turning examines the threats that our democracy has faced, as well as those occasions when democracy has triumphed.

February says part of what she does in the book is ‘make the case’ for the constitution.

‘It’s become very fashionable for people to want to discard the constitution, want to cast aspersions on it, and in fact this land debate is a case in point,’ February says.

‘People say it’s the fault of the constitution that we have inequality, it’s the fault of the constitution that there haven’t been land reforms. Mostly it’s the fault of an inefficient, ineffective, corrupt state, if one is to be perfectly honest.

‘The constitution provides a framework within which democratic deliberation, protest, conversations, and real, deep transformation can in fact happen. The question we have to ask ourselves, to the people who talk about the constitution in a derisory way, is what kind of country would we be without it?

‘This argument gained cache during the Fees Must Fall movement and protests, and I talk about that in quite a lot of detail because I think the arguments in defence of the constitution are extremely important to make. At the end of the day, that is the bulwark again impunity and has seen us through some pretty difficult times with Jacob Zuma and it will continue to do so. We’ve got to keep an eye on the court, how it is constituted and its judgments.’

Listen to the interview:

 

Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Africa Melane CapeTalk Judith February Pan Macmillan SA Podcasts Soundcloud Turning and Turning