Human rights: a covenant of balance

HUMAN rights can never be selective. Just as worms decompose a corpse to nourish the soil, or humans consume animals for sustenance, our survival depends on a sacred balance. To weaponise human rights as tools of exclusion or to exploit them for selfish gain is to poison the very ecosystem that sustains us.

Human Rights Month is a time to celebrate the freedoms wrested from apartheid’s iron grip.

For 30 years, our Constitution has stood as foundational to the very essence of hope, enshrining rights once denied to millions. Freedom was carved from sacrifice: detentions without trial, bannings, house arrests and state-sanctioned violence. The Constitution, born from stakeholders that contributed to a Constituent Assembly and which was incidentally led by our current president, remains a living testament to participatory democracy.

Rooted in the Freedom Charter of 1955, it represents 3 000 delegates who dared to dream of equality in Kliptown.

On April 27, 1994, that dream became reality.

Today, our Constitution is hailed globally for its progressive vision. Yet, as we commemorate Human Rights Day on March 21, we must ask: have we honoured our legacy of human rights in uplifting the lives of all our citizens? There is an unfinished revolution with systemic betrayals. Political freedom was won, yet economic justice remains elusive.

The trilogy of poverty, inequality, and unemployment continues to strangle progress. In eThekwini, and in my former hometown Tongaat, residents face daily water outages. Thirty years into democracy, systemic incompetence and corruption have left communities stranded, and their cries for dignity are drowned by empty promises. The recent floods are not only acts of nature. They epitomise neglect.

Crumbling roads, clogged drains, and unmaintained infrastructure reflect a government that prioritises power over people. When storms ravage homes, they expose a deeper truth: human rights abuses thrive without accountability. Corruption and mismanagement erode safety, security, and the right to a sustainable environment. This is not just a failure of governance - it is a moral crisis.

Maintaining roads, drainage, and water is not only a fundamental right. Investing in infrastructure honours the right to safety and dignity. Let us demand transparency in public spending and punish those who steal from the poor.

Education is rooted in ethics. Value-based education must begin in homes and schools. Teach children that environmental destruction is a human rights violation. Show them that empathy, not exploitation, sustains ecosystems. A child who learns to respect the soil, the rivers, and the air will grow into a leader who respects humanity. The floods remind us that there is no dignity on a dying planet.

Deforestation, pollution, and climate collapse disproportionately harm the poor. To fight for clean air and water is to fight for equality. Let us criminalise ecocide and elevate the rights of nature into our legal framework. The government will not willfully create natural disasters, but the lack of sustainable policies leads to natural disasters.

If we don't contain carbon emissions, we will have more storms, more earthquakes, and more tornadoes. Water insecurity and droughts will increase. Our world faces the greatest threat to its existence by denialism and ignorance. The Just Transition by President Cyril Ramaphosa is a good beginning but certainly not enough.

We all are responsible for growing trees and growing our organic vegetables to mitigate global warming. Prevention is always better than the best cure. Let us redefine human rights as a dance of balance - between rich and poor, humanity and nature, accountability, and compassion. Our children, who deserve a future - all demand this reckoning. However, the response to these failures has often been fragmented and divisive.

The municipality’s focus should be on uplifting the poor. This tension reflects deeper societal divides, including the legacy of apartheid and the ongoing struggle for economic equality. The Constitution of South Africa is clear about the obligations of local government. Section 152(1) states that municipalities must ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner, promote social and economic development, and encourage the involvement of communities in matters of local government.

Importantly, the Constitution does not exclude the poor; rather, it emphasises the need for equitable service delivery. However, reality is more complex. Municipalities like eThekweni and Msunduzi rely heavily on revenue from ratepayers to fund services, creating a tension between financial sustainability and the constitutional mandate to serve all residents. This tension is often framed as a zero-sum game, where the needs of ratepayers are pitted against those of the poor.

But this framing is counterproductive. A more inclusive approach would recognise that the development of the city as a whole benefits everyone, including ratepayers. The perception that ratepayers deserve priority treatment reflects the enduring influence of apartheid-era privilege. While it is true that ratepayers contribute to municipal revenue, this does not absolve the municipality of its responsibility to serve all residents.

The Constitution explicitly rejects the exclusion of the poor, and any approach that prioritises ratepayers at their expense is fundamentally at odds with the values of democracy and equality. Simply because we lack coherent leadership who are not up to the task of understanding our crisis, let alone the provisions in our Constitution that demand a response, our civil society should consider engaging the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to test the constitutionality of the municipality failure to lead and deliver on the constitutional mandate.

This could provide a legal framework for holding the municipality accountable and ensuring that the needs of all stakeholders are not overlooked. Finally, as we reflect on March 21, let us pledge to protect the vulnerable, prosecute the corrupt, preserve the planet, and practice Ubuntu.

In the end, human rights are not written in ink - they are etched in the choices we make every day. Together, let us choose a South Africa where dignity flows as freely as water, where justice blooms like the Jacaranda in spring, and where our shared humanity restores the balance of life itself.  

Siva Naidoo is a social justice advocate and an ubuntu education in  human values  trainer  based in  Gauteng. He can be reached on sivanaidoo247@gmail.com

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.

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