In honour of Human Rights Day, the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programme team will present the Foundation’s annual Human Rights Report Card which examines the extent to which the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights were practically enjoyed by all South Africans over the past year.
The FW de Klerk Foundation has submitted comments to Parliament on the Water Services Amendment Bill, supporting its aim to improve accountability in South Africa’s failing water sector while proposing safeguards to uphold constitutional and cooperative governance principles.
The FW de Klerk Foundation notes the arrival of Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III as the United States’ top diplomat to South Africa. As a Foundation dedicated to upholding the South African Constitution and the 1994 National Accord, we welcome the Ambassador’s stated commitment to a “fact-based” assessment of the challenges facing our constitutional democracy.
The FW de Klerk Foundation honours the life and legacy of Clem Sunter, whose pioneering scenario planning helped South Africans confront the defining political and economic choices of the transition to democracy. The Foundation reflects on how his commitment to independent, evidence-based thinking expanded space for rational debate and informed leadership at a critical historical moment. It affirms the enduring lesson of his work: that democratic resilience depends not only on institutions, but on a culture of rigorous, honest and forward-looking thought.
Ismail Joosub examines President Ramaphosa’s SONA 2026 water reforms against the reality of South Africa’s deepening water crisis, arguing that governance failure – not natural scarcity – lies at the heart of collapsing services. It analyses the proposed national coordination, infrastructure investment and licensing reforms through a constitutional lens, assessing whether they can restore the right of access to water and reverse decades of municipal decline.
One South Africa Movement, OUTA, the Center for Civic and Democracy Education, Project Youth South Africa, the FW de Klerk Foundation, the Independent Candidate Association South Africa, SoWeVote, Project Vote SA, and South African Youth Affairs note that last night’s State of the Nation Address contained no commitments to reform South Africa’s electoral system and call for a transparent, inclusive, time‑bound process to deliver changes well before the 2029 elections.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme was created as a constitutional instrument to widen access to further education and advance equality. Repeated governance failures have turned this promise into a cycle of administrative crisis that harms students and erodes public trust. The recovery of R1,7 billion by the Special Investigating Unit exposes a deeper failure in how a constitutional right is administered, making access to education uncertain and equality increasingly theoretical.
The FW de Klerk Foundation is pleased to have Mpone Komako on board as an online intern.
AGOA’s renewal offers welcome short-term certainty for South African exporters, workers and communities after months of trade uncertainty. But continued US tariffs are eroding the real benefits of preferential access, placing jobs, competitiveness and value chains under growing pressure. This moment must be used wisely to protect livelihoods and to pursue diversified, constitutionally grounded trade and economic reforms for the future.
