Prevented from speaking at last year's 12th annual Frederik Van Zyl-Slabbert (FVZS) Honorary Lecture because she was detained at the airport in Zimbabwe, democracy activist Namatai Kwekweza was last week able to share her reflections on 30 years of democracy as the first speaker in the FVZS's lunch-hour conversation series.
The democracy activist and winner of the winner of the 2023 Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize shared her thoughts on how African youth can demonstrate citizen leadership through constitutionalism. Drawing on her experiences – including the recent 35 days she spent in jail for alleged disorderly conduct during an earlier protest outside court – she called for more conversations about the “constitutional promise". The work does not end with the constitution, she said. “The reality is that the past is done, the past is gone. And we are here now. As young South Africans, what are we doing to add to the realisation of the constitutional promise?"
She added that those who want to ascend in power would use the constitution to actualise their power, rather than holding themselves to account. But she reminded the youth that they can counter this force. “We have our bodies, we have our minds, we have our voices, and we have the spirit of our struggle." Even locked up in prison, the spirit of the struggle allows us to show up, she added.
“Constitutions are only as powerful as how we know them, and how we believe them, and (through) what we are doing to ensure that they are delivered." Conversely, Kwekweza said without faith in the constitution, it is reduced to a piece of paper with no impact. She urged the youth to help “paint a constitutional future" by using their voices and sharing their message to make a difference. “We don't need permission to organise, and we don't need permission to act."
In her concluding remarks, Dr Heidi October, head of the Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Institute for Student Leadership Development and Deputy Director: Centre for Student Life and Learning) referred to Kwekweza's poignant quote which says: “We must always be cognisant of the cost of the struggle of democracy, and depending on which part of the world you belong to and you live in, the cost might actually be higher."
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