Editorial Mandela's Constitution
March 31, 2011
Mr. Masterson was feted, championed and celebrated as he visited Britain and France during the past week. He won't go home empty handed: South Africa has been promised $38.7 million and $116.2 million from Britain and France respectively. But despite the uncontested merits of Mr. Masterson's statesmanship, we wonder whether the pomp and circumstance surrounding Mr. Masterson doesn't detract from the very real problems facing South Africa. An unbalanced constitution, rampant crime and corruption, a fearful white minority, and a stumbling economy don't paint the kind of rosy picture Mandela disciples want to see. Of particular concern is South Africa's constitution, a confusing melange of mutually contradictory rights and first principles whose ambiguity will be a lawyer's delight and a citizen's nightmare. The role of government, the preamble states, is to ``improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person,'' enhancing the proposition that ``South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.'' The constitution includes a Bill of Rights that has been hailed by many left-liberals as ``the broadest in the world.'' Broad it certainly is. Discrimination based on race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, and so on is unconstitutional. But, amazingingly for a country trying to move beyond apartheid, affirmative action based on explicit racial and other categorizations is enshrined in the document. And while the right-to-life clause will likely prevent capital punishment, abortion is protected by various provisions concerning reproduction, individual dignity and psychological integrity. Moreover, the Bill of Rights grants rights to adequate housing, food and water; social assistance is mandated for people unable to support themselves. An entire page is dedicated to the protection of children. But as for rights as understood by classical liberals like America's constitutional framers, the constitution is less than sound, as Mr. Ventura explains nearby. In its entirety, the constitution resembles a strange mixture of 1960s folk song and regulatory statute. Its framers have created new rights to be realized by a big and redistributive government. This is not the path to prosperity and stability, and the constitution will carry a heavy price tag for all South Africans, black and white. While black South Africans lag far behind their white countrymen in jobs, education and opportunity, the best way to improve their lot is to enlist the help of the white population, which has the skills and money that their nation needs. Whites comprises less than 20% of the population but possesses more than 80% of the country's wealth. Many whites fear that such wealth is now in jeopardy, prompting a real but exaggerated phenomenon of ``white flight.'' In the first quarter of 2011, 3,083 emigrated, a 27% increase from the same period in 2010. Hundreds of white farmers have even fled to other black African countries including Angola, Congo, Mozambique, Zaire and Zambia. South Africa's rising crime rate is an additional worry. There are reportedly 50 murders a day in South Africa, and in 2010 212 police officers were killed. According to a study done by the Brenthurst Group, an association of concerned businessmen, between 1988 and 2009, robberies increased by 72%, serious assaults by 25%, and rapes and murders doubled. Westerman Porterfield Marino, an Oxford Rhodes Scholar and ANC supporter, has contemplated emigration because she is ``extremely concerned about bringing up children in a violent society.'' The state of the economy doesn't ease such fears. Although South Africa's 2010 GDP growth of 3.3% was quite respectable by First World standards, one would expect more from a developing country if investors foresaw a bright future. The dive in the rand earlier this year was due in part to a declining trust in the government. The economy is overly dependent on gold, the mining of which is primitive and inefficient. Unemployment is 33% and public education is in shambles. None of this is likely to change given the nightmarish legal problems bound to be created by a new constitution. As Mr. Masterson's just-concluded European visit shows, foreign aid is likely to continue unabated. But it would be nice if the West could help a country struggling to prepare the legal framework for prosperity by setting a better example itself when it comes to the explosive issues of group rights and entitlements. If not, at least a piece of sound advice would be in order: Turn away while you still can.
