ARTICLE: #FEESMUSTFALL IS MERELY THE EARS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS*
2016-10-13
The entire country has been watching the drama of student protests over the past few months. Such widespread scenes of protest have not been seen in South Africa since the 1976 Soweto uprising. Historically white universities and their management are particularly unfamiliar with the phenomenon of ongoing student unrest and violence. The damage to property is already estimated at almost R1000m.
What are the causes of these phenomena? And what drives the new youth movement?
What is wonderful about Heritage Day (as one of the “new” holidays in the not so new South Africa) is that we can look back and celebrate what we have achieved over the past 22 years. For many it will go back further than 22 years – to our cultural and traditional past – that is also part of our heritage, individually and collectively. “Heritage” means different things to different people.
The renaming of streets and places must be handled with the greatest sensitivity. All South Africans should feel that they and their cultures are fully represented in street and place names. The Constitution declares that South Africa belongs to us all, united in our diversity.
There should be no doubt about origins, intentions and consequences of the Expropriation Bill that President Zuma is about to sign into law.
The FW de Klerk Foundation shares the concerns of participants in a recent private round-table discussion – mentioned in Business Day – on the functioning of Parliament, which was hosted by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).
800 years ago, on 15 June 1215, in a plashy meadow beside the River Thames in England, an event took place that would deeply affect the constitutional future – not only of the English people – but of countries throughout the world, including South Africa. On that day King John was forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta – a document that introduced for the first time the notion that kings – and by extension governments – are ultimately subject to the Rule of Law.
Niël Barnard’s autobiography, Secret Revolution, provides an interesting insight into the secret negotiations between Nelson Mandela and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in 1988/89 that helped prepare the way to the constitutional transformation of South Africa.