South Africa:The Constitution

"We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land, respect those who have worked to build and develop our country, believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity".

These introductory words of the preamble to the South African Constitution are featured on the last stamp issue in the Constitution Hill series issued by the South African Post Office on 23 May 2011.

Issue Description
South Africa's Constitution is widely regarded as the most progressive constitution in the world, with a Bill of Rights second to none. Coming late to democracy, South Africa was able to draw on the collective wisdom of the democratic countries of the world in creating its Constitution.

South Africa's Constitution was the result of detailed and inclusive negotiations that took into consideration the injustices of the country’s non-democratic past. The result is that it represents the collective wisdom of the South African people and has been arrived at by general agreement.

Human rights are given prominence in the Constitution. They feature in the Preamble with its stated intention of establishing "a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights".

Among the rights stipulated are those of equality, freedom of expression and association, political and property rights, housing, healthcare, education, access to information, and access to courts.

Supreme Law

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, was approved by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996. On 10 December 1996, which is International Human Rights Day, Nelson Mandela signed the Constitution into law in Sharpeville, in Vereeniging and it took effect on 4 February 1997.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. No other law or government action can supersede the provisions of the Constitution.

The adoption of the Constitution in 1996 was a major turning point in this country's history. It has been called the "birth certificate" of a new South Africa - a country that is profoundly different to the one that existed before.

This Constitution was drafted in terms of Chapter 5 of the interim Constitution (Act 200 of 1993) and was first adopted by the Constitutional Assembly on 8 May 1996. In terms of a judgement of the Constitutional Court, delivered on 6 September 1996, the text was referred back to the Constitutional Assembly for reconsideration. The text was accordingly amended to comply with the Constitutional Principles contained in Schedule 4 of the interim Constitution. It was signed into law on 10 December 1996.

The objective in this process was to ensure that the final Constitution is legitimate, credible and accepted by all South Africans.

Public Participation

To this extent, the process of drafting the Constitution involved many South Africans in the largest public participation programme ever carried out in South Africa. After nearly two years of intensive consultations, political parties represented in the Constitutional Assembly negotiated the formulations contained in this text, which are an integration of ideas from ordinary citizens, civil society and political parties represented in and outside of the Constitutional Assembly.

Issue Details
The Constitutional Hill stamp series started in 2008 with the Architecture of the Constitutional Court.

In 2009, the artworks in the Constitutional court were featured and in 2010, the history of Constitution Hill.

Miniature Sheet
The Miniature Sheet, which contains one stamp with a B4 value, is available on its own or mounted in a Souvenir Folder.

A distinctive logotype that interlinks the words "South Africa", "Mexico" and the Roman numerals XX was specially designed for the Miniature Sheet. These interlinked words symbolise the bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

The words "20 Years Bilateral Relations" appear on the stamp and Miniature Sheet emphasising the link between the Roman numerals XX and the 20 Years of Bilateral Relations.

References & Notes
References

Notes