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ANOTHER REASON FOR GOVT TO CONSULT AND LISTEN

08/06/2017 08:01:00 By Vusi Kunene

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ON November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in America, a speech which became known as the Gettysburg Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln.

A famous quote from that speech which I believe still holds true even today is; “Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.” Lincoln believed more than a century ago that a government that is not of the people, by the people and for the people will not hold forever. That government will face strife and opposition and would eventually be toppled because the people shall govern.
In my opinion this means the government is supposed to listen to its people and do what its people want for it to be forever.

This leads me to refer to our Constitution, which, in Section 64, states that the executive authority in the country vests with the King and shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. The King shall protect and defend the Constitution and all laws made under or continued in force by the Constitution. Therefore whatever laws government passes impact directly on the King as he is called upon to protect and defend those laws. And Section 63 of the Constitution enjoins every citizen of the country to uphold and defend the Constitution and the law.
Section 106 of the Constitution gives the powers to make laws to the King and Parliament.

These laws are not just laws but must be laws for peace, order and good governance of the country. The practicality of the matter though is that the King is usually not in Parliament when the laws are debated. The Bills only go to the King for assent after passing through Parliament.
My worry though is that citizens of this country are enjoined to defend and uphold some laws which they are not in agreement with. They are not in agreement with the laws because they were not consulted when the laws were passed. How are they to defend something that they are not in agreement with?

I am not naïve to the fact that not all citizens will agree on a certain law but at least the majority should have approved that law. I know that there is a misconception that parliamentarians are representatives of the people. I agree, that is what is supposed to be if the parliamentarians were in constant consultation with people and unfortunately that is not the case.
To demonstrate that there is no consultation and sometimes the no consultation is done on purpose is the impromptu calling of Parliament to a sitting where they are to pass a law allowing government to borrow money from other countries.

This money is to build a hotel and I wonder if a hotel is a necessity for the starving people of the Lowveld. It is the very same starving people who are to defend and uphold this law as called upon by the Constitution. Will the people of the country be consulted before the law is passed? Mind you it is taxpayers’ money that will be used to pay the debt.
This is not the only law that will be passed without consulting the people who are supposed to defend and uphold the law. Another example would be the speedy passing of the election laws just before we went into elections in 2013.
The question that begs to be answered is; are we, the citizens, going to defend these laws and be happy with them? Will these laws not be the same laws that will bring disorder and break peace in the country as people rebel against the same laws? Is this government by the people if the people are not considered when laws are to be passed and these are laws that have a huge impact on their lives?

For our government and Parliament to pass laws that will be in accordance with their mandate in terms of Section 106 (b) of the Constitution, they have to consult and listen to the people before they debate and pass laws. This is more so because parliamentarians are not even well capacitated when it comes to laws.
If you have doubts on this I will invite you to visit the meetings where they will be campaigning now that we are going for elections; they will be telling us that they will build us bridges etc, and I wonder how can a parliamentarian concern himself and tell people that he will do that because their primary duty is legislation. Those we elect must consult and listen to us and those appointed must also listen to the people because they are a government of the people, by the people and for the people; otherwise government will not survive forever.