This paper identifies accountability as the essential ingredient required to make the ideals of constitutionalism a reality. The author offers a definition in which three tests for constitutionalism are set out. These are, firstly, limitations on the exercise of power; secondly, legitimacy in the eyes of the people; and, thirdly, respect for human and people’s rights. These three components of constitutionalism are examined against the political backdrop of post-liberation societies in which people’s struggle for freedom becomes subsumed by the infighting that occurs within governing elites or liberation movements. This is to the detriment of the realisation of the values of dignity, equality and freedom that underpin the accepted constitutional dispensations, which are given lip service by politicians, but are not implemented in a manner responsive to the needs of the people.
