The Constitution’s promise is still contested and still unfinished

Thirty years into democracy, South Africa’s Constitution remains both a landmark achievement and a measure of what has yet to change. Mbali Ntuli, Mbekezeli Benjamin and Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh agreed that its promises remained unfulfilled, but differed on where the main failure lay: unequal economic power, weak implementation, or the design of the constitutional order itself.

Thirty years into democracy, South Africa’s Constitution remains both a landmark achievement and a measure of what has yet to change. Mbali Ntuli, Mbekezeli Benjamin and Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh agreed that its promises remained unfulfilled, but differed on where the main failure lay: unequal economic power, weak implementation, or the design of the constitutional order itself.