The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Board of Trustees convened an urgent special meeting on Friday 8 April to discuss the groundswell of public discontent in the wake of the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling vindicating the Public Protector and holding the President accountable for unconstitutional executive actions.
The Board welcomed the ruling. Democracy’s lifeblood is institutions promoting social justice without fear or favour, across the entire social, public sphere. Protecting this lifeblood is at the heart of Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
While the Board understands the extent of public sentiment behind the call for the removal of the President, it is also of the view that there are deep-rooted systemic problems that need to receive sustained public attention. South Africa has already experienced a presidential recall which failed to deliver strategies required to address the systemic imperative.
Our country’s crisis of leadership is not restricted to the summits of power. The reach of our constitutional democracy stretches across the entire nation.
We need good, accountable leadership in parliament, in all tiers of government, the civil service, business, schools, unions, political parties, universities, churches, hospitals, communities, NGOs and so on. And, of course, in our presidency, the first enabler, protector, and defender of the common good embodied in our country's constitution.
The Board has directed a request to the governing party for an urgent meeting to discuss these issues. It is time for South Africans to settle for nothing less than the dream Nelson Mandela demonstrated is achievable. All South Africans are the custodians of it.