Section 27: Constitution remains the ultimate protector of our rights

In a statement on Human Rights Day, the organisation says the public holiday is aimed at reminding the country of the sacrifices that accompanied the struggle for democracy. 

"Human Rights Day should be a painful reminder of our brutal past. On 21 March 1960, the apartheid state brutally murdered 69 people in Sharpeville, resulting in untold pain for thousands of families. Human Rights Day 2017 is for us a burning reminder that for many, many of our compatriots, Human Rights is simply a definition on a website, it is a not a lived reality, it is not a fruit of freedom they have come to enjoy." 

Section 27 says given the protection enjoyed by South Africans under the Constitution, the call to water down, revisit or even recall the Constitution goes against what so many fought and died for. 

President Jacob Zuma recently called for the Constitution to be amended. in order to speed up land reform. 

But Section 27 says this call is unwise.

"Going down this path will place us in the league of other Human Rights denialists such as US President Donald Trump, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Russian President Vladimir Putin, to mention a few." 

The organisation says it should not be forgotten that Zuma himself was found wanting by the Constitutional Court, when it ordered him to pay for the non-security upgrades to his Nkandla home. 

"The Court further declared the conduct of the President and the National Assembly inconsistent with their constitutional obligations. This is a blot that will forever remain against President Zuma’s name."

Section 27 says only when human dignity and equality are achieved for all South Africans, will the country be able to say respects and honours human rights for all who live in it.