“This Ugandan word was identified by Paterson as expressing the essence of citizenship. In return for voluntarily carrying out a person’s Duties and Responsibilities to society, society in return bestows certain Rights and Privileges upon that person. However, a person who has only Rights and Privileges is a tyrant, and, currently, there are too many tyrants in society all demanding their Rights without consideration of what Duties they ought to perform to merit such Rights. A slave has merely Duties and Responsibilities, having no say in how his or her life ought to be conducted. Someone without either Duties and Responsibilities or Rights and Privileges is nothing, not even human as we understand it . . . . A citizen has Duties and Responsibilities in perfect balance with Rights and Privileges, i.e. Swanelo”.
An important aspect of Swanelo is Authority. It is society, or a component of society such as a company or other organization, which bestows authority upon a person by common consent. And it is that consent which distinguishes Authority from Power. Which form of authority (or combination of forms) is given depends upon what function or role that person is to fulfill in society. Understanding of the forms of Authority in a clear and unambiguous fashion helps us to use it constructively. And it is a very potent tool which the group uses to make the decisions which it has to make, often to achieve the very survival of the group.
See Sapiential authority: Wisdom and power posted on 18 March 2013.
With regard to ubuntu read the following passages from a Consitutional Court judgment: Chevron SA (Pty) Ltd v Wilson t/a Wilson’s Transport (CCT 88/14) [2015] ZACC 15 (5 June 2015)
[51] In general, the enforcement of an unreasonable or unfair time limitation clause will be contrary to public policy. Broadly speaking, the test announced in Mohlomi is whether a provision affords a claimant an adequate and fair opportunity to seek judicial redress. Notions of fairness, justice and equity, and reasonableness cannot be separated from public policy. Public policy takes into account the necessity to do simple justice between individuals.[footnote omitted] Public policy is informed by the concept of ubuntu. It would be contrary to public policy to enforce a time limitation clause that does not afford the person bound by it an adequate and fair opportunity to seek judicial redress. [Emphasis added]