The founding provisions of the SA constitution are not strictly applied in the adoption of legislation by parliament, and consequently in the governance of the country. Founding provisions are the values upon which the state is founded and include, “ human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms nonracialism and non-sexism, and supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law.”According to statistics SA, on March 31 there were 12.
Increasingly, laws and regulations are being determined by government officials and not by parliament. The constitution should prevent parliament from abdicating its powers, and MPs should be required to maintain vigilant supervision over all laws and regulations that are promulgated.
The points most frequently emphasised were that there should be no punishment without a previously existing law providing for it, that all statutes should have prospective and not retrospective operation, and that the discretion of all magistrates should be circumscribed by law.In his Second Treatise on Civil Government, philosopher John Locke was concerned with how power could be prevented from becoming arbitrary: “Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by ...
SA government officials are demanding even greater powers. Citizens need protection against this trend. Two ways of affording that protection are for MPs to resolutely refuse to approve any legislation that is not in accordance with the rule of law, and particularly that they refuse to approve provisions in legislation that grant arbitrary discretionary powers to government officials.