 You know an hour's appointed to the constitutional court some 18 years ago My family my neighbors The people in the township of Hallisue where I was born and raised All thought that I Will place Hallisue on the road on the map and My appointment was therefore phenomenal I however thought I have been placed in a strategic position With a huge responsibility on my shoulders to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people in South Africa and many skeptics often Said to me locally and abroad would say to me You know if the South African Constitution revered as it is throughout the world Really make a difference in the lives of ordinary people in South Africa even people in the remotest villages Then I or we will know that it deserves its reverence let me tell you that Properly interpreted properly Applied Properly enforced the Constitution can make that difference. I'll tell you a little story it made that difference in the life of One woman and the villagers in a very remote village in Limpopo when in terms of African tradition Women would generally be rendered invisible in villages and amongst others were not entitled To succeed to the position of tradition to to traditional leadership In villages now our Constitution protects the entitlement of Everybody including women To succeed to traditional leadership, but at the same time in the same Constitution it also protects the right to Practice your culture and your tradition So in a way, there's a contradiction Indeed in this particular case the King of the village passed on and Because he didn't have a son Because his eldest child was a woman The kinship passed to the uncle of this young woman therefore the eldest male person was in the family a number of years later the uncle died and As the tradition goes the traditional rule goes the kinship Was supposed to pass on to his eldest son and not to this young woman Or the girl eldest child of the original king who was now an adult woman The villagers at the time felt that we have a new Constitution now surely things should change We can't operate the way we used to operate before the Constitution the Constitution Recognizes the right to equality men and women are equal now because there should be non-discrimination based on gender But there was opposition of course from the supposed newly appointed King Now our Constitution makes it possible For ordinary people to reach the highest court in the land because many people also say this Constitution is only good enough for the money for those moneyed people in Bishop's court in Cape Town for the moneyed people in Houghton in in Johannesburg Our Constitution makes it possible for people To bring issues to the highest court in the land on behalf of those who cannot do so and that's exactly what happened in this case The matter came before the Constitutional Court and guess what? The court decided that based on the right to equality Where there is non-discrimination based on gender this woman now in this new Constitutional dispensation Has the right to become traditional leader for the first time For the first time in the history of this village and perhaps many villages and in the thought processes of many Villages a woman ascended to the position of traditional leadership. I Happen to find myself in a official function sitting next to the anchor of the King who had been removed and And He brought up the issue said to me that woman will never rule in that place The villagers will never accept a woman to rule over them guess what when she was enthroned the whole village danced the whole village danced and I knew I Knew deep down that I had made I was part of a decision Based on this Constitution which made a difference in the lives of ordinary people even people in their remotest villages of South Africa and You know what? Have a little faith in your Constitution