Mbeki hails Constitution, as Zuma steals the show

The Constitution of South Africa

The Jacob Zuma trial snatched the headlines from the tenth anniversary of the country's constitution thattook place in Parliament.

With all attention on the high court, it ended up being a low-key ceremony. Addressing a joint sitting, President Thabo Mbeki said freedom did not give anyone the unlimited right to do as they pleased, saying no one is above the law.

A decade on, parliamentarians and the chief negotiators in the constitution making process meet again for a moment of reflection on the brutal past. Mbeki said: “None of our people should be condemned to suffer from hunger, from the degradation of poverty, the humiliation of homelessness, the indignity of joblessness or the marginalisation caused by illiteracy.”

That, according to the President - means building a society founded on the values of the constitution, equality and human dignity. Mbeki said: “ Nowhere does it say that an public representative or official serves in any organ of state in order to misuse state power to enrich themselves or acquire any benefits that would otherwise not be due to them according to law.”

The President called on the country to accelerate efforts to help the poor escape from what he called "dehumanising poverty." The president said: “Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now.” A decade later:

Mbeki today said: “Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now. This celebration today, of a truly historic achievement, must communicate the message that the heroic people of our country, both black and white, have indeed entered into their ‘Age of Hope’. The country also paid tribute to the unity and solidarity by Africans in bringing about this celebrated supreme law.