it talks about constitutional design in south Africa

1. 1
CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

2. DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
2
⚫NELSON MANDELAand seven other leaders
were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964
for daring to oppose the apartheid regime in
his country
.
⚫Apartheid:The official policyof racial
separation and ill treatment of blacks followed
bythe government ofSouthAfricabetween
1948 and 1989
⚫He spent the next 28 years in SouthAfrica’s
most dreaded prison, Robben Island.
⚫apartheid divided the people and labelled them
onम
tह
ेेhद्रeपा
bरी
क
asisof their skin colour

3. ⚫Since 1950, the blacks,colored and Indians fought against the
apartheid system.
⚫Theylaunchedprotest marchesandstrikes. TheAfrican
NationalCongress(ANC)wasthe umbrella organisationthat
led the struggle against the policies of segregation.
⚫ Many sensitive whites also joined theANCto oppose
apartheid and played aleading role in this struggle.
⚫ Several countries denounced apartheid asunjust and racist..
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4. Towards a new constitution
⚫ Finally,at the midnight of 26April 1994, the new nationalflagof the
Republic of SouthAfrica wasunfurled markingthe newlyborn
democracyin the world.
⚫ The apartheid governmentcame to anend, pavingwayfor the formation
of amulti-racial government
⚫ After the emergence of the new democratic SouthAfrica,black leaders
appealedto fellow blacks to forgivethe whites for the atrocities
⚫ Theysaid let us build anew SouthAfrica based on equalityof all races
and men and women, on democratic values,social justice and human
rights.
⚫ THEYsat together to draw up acommon constitution.
⚫ Constitution: Supremelawof acountry, containingfundamentalrules
governingthe politicsand society in acountry
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5. 5
⚫ In the search for asolution
to the problems, nobody
should be excluded, no one
should be treated asa
demon.
⚫ Everybodyshould become
part of the solution,
whatever theymight have
done or represented in the
past.
⚫ The preamble to the South
African Constitution sums
up this spirit.
⚫ Astate denounced bythe
entire world till 1994 asthe
most undemocratic one is
now seen asamodel of
deम
mह
ेेद्र
oप
cेा
rरी
aक
cy
.

6. WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?
⚫IN S.A.The oppressor and the oppressed in this new democracy
were planning to live together as equals.
⚫It was not going to be easy for them to trust each other.They had
their fears.
⚫They wanted to safeguard their interests.
⚫The whites agreed to the principle of majority rule and that of one
person one vote.They also agreed to accept some basic rights for the
poor and the workers.
⚫The blacks agreed that majority rule would not be absolute. They
agreed that the majority would not take awaythe property of the
white minority.
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7. ⚫The only way to build and maintain trust in such a situation is
to write down some rules of the game that everyone
would abide by.
⚫how the rulersare to be chosen in future.
⚫what the elected governments are empowered to do and what
theycannot do.
⚫ These rules decide the rights ofthe citizen.
⚫These rules will work only if the winner cannot change them
veryeasily
.
⚫This set of basic rules is called aconstitution.
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8. ⚫Most countries in the world need to have these basic rules.
This appliesnot just to governments.
⚫Any association needs to have its constitution It could be a
club in your area, a cooperative society or a political party
,
theyall need aconstitution
⚫The constitution of a country is a set of written
rules that are accepted by all people living together
in a country.
⚫Constitution is the supreme law that determines the
relationship among people living in a territory
(called citizens) and also the relationship between
the people and government.
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9. WHY DO WE NEED A CONSTITUTION?
⚫BECAUSE-
⚫First, it generates adegree of trust and coordination that is
necessary for different kind of people to live together
⚫Second, it specifies how the government will be constituted, who
will have power to take which decisions
⚫Third, it lays down limits on the powers of the government and
tells us what the rights ofthe citizensare
⚫Fourth, it expresses the aspirations of the people about creating a
good society
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10. MAKING OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
⚫The making of the constitution for ahuge and diverse country
like India was not an easyaffair
⚫Thecountry wasborn through apartition on the basisof
religious differences
⚫The merger of princely states was adifficult and uncertain task.
⚫When the constitution wasbeingwritten, the future ofthe
country did not look assecure asit does today.
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11. The path to Constitution
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In 1928, Motilal Nehru and eight other Congress leaders drafted a
constitution for India.
⚫In 1931, the resolution at the Karachi session of the Indian
National Congress dwelt on how independent India’s constitution
should look like.
⚫Both these documents were committed to the inclusion of
universal adult franchise, right to freedom and equality
and to protecting the rights of minorities in the
constitution of independent India.
⚫Thus some basic values were accepted byall leaders much before
the ConstituentAssembly met to deliberate on the
Coम
nह
sद्र
tiप
tेा
र
uेी
क
tion.

12. ⚫Indian constitution adopted many institutional details and
procedures from the Government of IndiaAct, 1935.
⚫INSPIRA
TION FOR OUR CONSTITUTION-
⚫ by the ideals of French Revolution
⚫the practice of parliamentary democracy in Britain
⚫the Bill of Rights in the US.
⚫The socialist revolution in Russia had inspired many
Indians to think of shaping a system based on social and
economic equality.
⚫All these factors contributed to the making of our
Constitution
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13. The Constituent Assembly
⚫ The drafting of the document called the constitution was done byan
assembly of elected representatives called the ConstituentAssembly.
⚫ Elections to the ConstituentAssemblywere held in July 1946.
⚫ Its first meeting was held in December 1946.
⚫ DueTO partitionThe ConstituentAssembly was divided into the
ConstituentAssemblyof India and that of Pakistan.
⚫ The ConstituentAssemblythat wrote the Indian constitution had 299
members.
⚫ TheAssembly adopted the Constitution on 26 November
1949 but it came into effect on 26 January 1950.To mark this
day we celebrate January 26 as Republic Day every year.
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14. ⚫Why should we accept the Constitution made by
thisAssembly more than six decades ago?
⚫BECAUSE-
⚫The Constitution does not reflect the views of its members
alone. It expresses a broad consensus of its time.
⚫TheConstituentAssemblyrepresented the people ofIndia.
There wasnoUniversalAdultFranchiseat that time. So,the
ConstituentAssembly could not havebeen chosen directly by
all the people of India but it waselected mainly bythe
members of Provincial Legislatures, which ensured afair
share of all the regions of the country
.
⚫The ConstituentAssembly worked in asystematic,open and
consensual manner
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15. ⚫ Drafting Committee chaired by Dr. B.R.Ambedkar
prepared a draft constitution for discussion.
⚫Discussion took place on the Draft Constitution, clause by
clause.
⚫Clause: Adistinct section ofadocument
⚫‘ConstituentAssembly Debates’are 12 bulky volumes!
provide the rationale behind every provision of the
Constitution.
⚫These are used to interpret the meaningof the Constitution
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16. 1 GUIDING VALUES OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
⚫Let us begin byunderstanding the overall
philosophy of what our Constitution in two
ways.
⚫ Philosophy:The most fundamental principles
underlyingone’sthoughtsand actions
⚫One -W
e can understand it byreadingthe views
of some of our major leaderson our
Constitution.
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17. 1 A -Mahatama Gandhi - writing in
his magazine Young India in 1931,
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18. 1 B -Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar
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19. 1 C-
Jawaharlal
Nehru giving
his famous
speech to the
Constituent
Assembly at
the stroke of
midnight on
15 August
1947
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20. 2 GUIDING VALUES OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION
⚫Two- it is equally important to read what the Constitution says
about itsown philosophy
.
⚫This is what the preamble to the Constitution does
⚫Preamble:Anintroductory statement in aconstitution which
states the reasons and guiding values ofthe constitution
⚫Philosophy of the Constitution V
alues that inspired and
guided the freedom struggle are embedded in the Preamble of
the Indian Constitution.
⚫ The Constitution begins with ashort statement of its basic
values.This is called the Preamble to the constitution.
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21. Preamble
after
amendm
ent
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22. Preamble
in
Original
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23. ⚫W
e, the People of
India:The Constitution has
been drawn up and enacted
bythe people through their
representatives, and not
handed down to them bya
kingor any outside powers.
⚫Sovereign: People have the
supreme right to make
decisionson internal as well
as external matters. No
external power can dictate
the Government of India.
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24. ⚫Socialist:W
ealth is generated
sociallyand should be shared
equally bysociety
.The government
should regulate the ownership of
land and industry to reduce socio-
economic inequalities.
⚫Secular: Citizens have complete
freedom to follow any religion. But
there is no official religion.The
government treats all religious
beliefs and practices with equal
respect.
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25. ⚫ Democratic:Aform of government where people enjoyequal
political rights, elect their rulers and hold them accountable.The
governmentis run according to some basicrules.
⚫ Republic: The head of the state is an elected person and not a
hereditaryposition.
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26. ⚫ Justice: Citizenscannot be
discriminated against on the
groundsof caste, religion and
gender. Social inequalitieshave to
be reduced.The government should
work for the welfare of all,
especiallyof the disadvantaged
groups.
⚫ Liberty:There are no
unreasonable restrictions on the
citizensin what theythink, how
theywish to expresstheir thoughts
and the waytheywish to follow up
their thoughts in action.
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27. ⚫Equality: All are equal before the law. The traditional social
inequalities haveto be ended. The government should ensure
equal opportunity for all.
⚫Fraternity: All of us should behave as if we are members of the
same family
. No one should treat afellow citizen as inferior.
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28. Institutional design
⚫Those who crafted the Indian Constitution felt that it has to be in
accordance with people’s aspirations and changes in society
.
⚫They did not see it as a sacred, static and unalterable law. So, they
made provisions to incorporate changes from time to time.These
changes are called constitutional amendment
⚫Constitutional amendment: Achange in the constitution
made bythe supreme legislative body in acountry
⚫Our Constitution laysdownaprocedure for choosingpersons to
govern the country
.
⚫Our Constitution defineswhowill havehowmuchpowerto take
which decisions.Andit puts limits to what the government can do
byproviding some rights to the citizen that cannot be violated
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29. VOTE OF THANKS
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