The FW de Klerk Foundation noted with grave concern the statement on expropriation without compensation (EWC), by ANC president Ramaphosa after the NEC Lekgotla last night. There are two main problems with the statement, procedurally and substantively.

Speaking as leader of a political party, he abused the platform of the national broadcaster to make a party-political announcement, as if it were an announcement as President of the country. This shows the same dangerous conflation of party and State as we have seen during the Zuma years. The statement also pre-empts the outcome and makes a mockery of the parliamentary process that is underway, as if the ANC is the only party in Parliament. The incidental reference to the “parliamentary process” does not hide the apparent disdain the majority party has for the Legislature and its processes. In addition, the announcement short-circuited the public hearings, thus rendering public participation in the legislative process obsolete. This means that any future amendments are open to a legal challenge on grounds of lack of procedural fairness.

The FW de Klerk Foundation welcomes yesterday’s decision involving former Zimbabwean first lady, Dr Grace Mugabe, which was handed down by the Gauteng High Court. It is of concern that the decision makes apparent that the government of South Africa lacked the authority to either confer or grant immunity to Mugabe, in a bid to protect her against the allegations of wrongdoing. In doing so, the South African Government failed to protect its own citizen and further undermined the Constitution in unlawfully granting immunity to Mugabe.

As was the case in the Al Bashir matter, the South African government has shown that it lacks the political will and inclination to abide by the Rule of Law when faced with thorny political questions. This failure by the government to abide by the spirit and letter of its own laws, while cynically circumventing due process, chips away at South Africa’s foundational values. Yet again, the Judiciary finds itself having to adjudicate a matter in which the Executive has failed in its constitutional obligations.

The FW de Klerk Foundation welcomes the announcement of the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, that lifestyle audits for senior managers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have started and will be completed by March 2019. As a country, we have too long concentrated only on ‘big’ Zupta-related corruption and state capture, forgetting that ‘smaller’ corruption in the public service is also endemic. It is a well-known fact that most of the bigger SOEs are in dire financial trouble, amongst others apparently because of sky-high salary bills. While legal battles are playing themselves out with regard to the Zupta-related issues, a start must be made on the other instances of corruption. While a lifestyle audit will not be conclusive evidence of corruption, it would be a good indicator of possible ill-begotten income. This task will be undertaken by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and it must be hoped that they have the requisite skills to complete the task successfully. It is perhaps significant that the period for financial declarations goes back to 2009, the start of the Zuma administration.

On Mandela Day 2018, South Africans and those across the world who share former President Mandela’s vision to make a difference in the lives of others, will be dedicating time to various activities and projects to make the world a better place.

In the words of former President Mandela, “We need to restore and reaffirm the dignity of the people of Africa and the developing world. We need to place the eradication of poverty at the top of world priorities. We need to know with a fresh conviction that we all share a common humanity and that our diversity in the world is the strength for our future together.”

Tomorrow we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth.  

He was rightly acknowledged by the whole world as one of the greatest leaders of the latter part of the 20th century – and he was certainly one of the most impressive people that I met during my long political career.  He had enormous charm, charisma and the natural self-assurance of a born aristocrat. He had steel-like self-discipline and determination that he gained during the long and bitter years of his imprisonment.  Above all he had an unshakable commitment to the goals of the African National Congress and to the establishment of a non-racial democratic South Africa.  

The FW de Klerk Foundation welcomes the Constitutional Court’s decision in My Vote Counts NPC v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and Another. The decision, which confirmed an earlier Western Cape High Court ruling, makes it apparent that the unchecked funding of political parties or individuals running for political office, has no place within a constitutional democracy founded on values of transparency and accountability. 

The decision enhances the voting public’s right to make informed political choices through requiring that the information pertaining to the private funding of political parties and independent candidates must be recorded, preserved and made reasonably accessible. The provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA), which excluded political parties and independent candidates from its purview, were also declared invalid. The order of invalidity was however suspended for 18 months to allow Parliament to remedy PAIA to bring the Act in line with the decision. This means that there is a high likelihood that political parties in the 2019 national and provincial elections will be governed by the amended PAIA. South Africa’s democracy will be all the richer for it. 

The FW de Klerk Foundation, like thousands of other organisations and individual South Africans, submitted its views on the amendment to section 25 of the Constitution to allow expropriation without compensation (EWC) to the parliamentary Constitutional Review Committee. The Foundation regards this question as being of central importance to the future of South Africa – not only with regard to the essential requirement for a successful process of land reform, but also for the future of property rights and hence the future prospects for the economy, as well as for the future of race relations in South Africa.

Together with numerous respected jurists, including the late Arthur Chaskalson CJ, as well as the High Level Panel appointed by Parliament, the Foundation believes that it is not necessary to change section 25 of the Constitution to achieve land reform and extend property rights to all South Africans. 

The FW de Klerk Foundation condemns the vitriolic attack by EFF Deputy President, Floyd Shivambu, on Ismail Momoniat at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance on 5 June 2018. This indicates yet again the abuse of parliamentary privilege and more significantly, the rabid race politics of the EFF.  

Shivambu objected to the presence of Treasury Deputy Director-General Ismail Momoniat at the meeting. He asked why Director-General Dondo Mogajane did not appear and concluded that this undermined African ‘representativeness’. He went so far as to say that Momoniat’s presence undermined African leadership. An EFF statement reasserted Shivambu’s comments, “Momoniat has no regard for black, particularly African leadership in National Treasury and this includes his disrespect of Director-General and African Ministers and Deputy Ministers. To him, leadership that deserves respect is only those of Indian, Coloured or White origin. In virtually everything that National Treasury does, Momoniat dictates.”