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ARTICLE: IS CYRIL WINNING? FACTORS IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE NEW CABINET

2019-05-20

parliament interior sabc

On 22 May, Cyril Ramaphosa will be elected by the National Assembly as President of democratic South Africa, with his inauguration on May 25. According to available information, the Cabinet will be announced on 27 May.

It is therefore too early to speculate on exactly who will be included in the Cabinet and who not. The lists currently doing the rounds have probably been released by various factions to determine which way the wind is blowing – and perhaps influence the wind’s direction.

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ARTICLE: ONLY JUST FREE AND FAIR, A MOVE TO THE CENTRE, BUT STILL IN THE MIDST OF EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY POLITICS

2019-05-13

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Democratic South Africa’s sixth general election has come and gone. Before reflecting on and interpreting the results, it is necessary to pause and consider the process that unfolded and brought us to this point. According to section 190 of the Constitution, the Electoral Commission must “manage elections… in accordance with national legislation; ensure that those elections are free and fair; and declare the results of those elections within a period that … is as short as reasonably possible”. 

There was, therefore, a huge amount of preparation done for the 2019 National and Provincial Elections. During that time the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was also mandated by the Constitutional Court to ensure that every eligible voter had a correct home address – a task that they had not yet completed by Election Day. Concerns were registered beforehand about the IEC’s capacity and its budget. Concerns had also been raised about the number of voters who had registered. Despite the IEC’s best efforts, only 27 million of the 36 million eligible voters registered. A further concern was the low rate of youth registration, especially in the category 18 to 36 years.

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ARTICLE: WHAT TO DO IN THE LAST DAYS BEFORE THE SIXTH DEMOCRATIC ELECTION?

2019-05-06

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It is generally accepted that, after a period of intense political and social turmoil, South Africans are generally somewhat despondent, negative and bewildered. It is not necessary to further expand upon this – the daily dose of the latest state-capture scandal, road and flood deaths are well-known.

However, a general election doesn’t come every year. And with just two days before the election, the question is: what does one do from now until Wednesday and how does one approach the polling station on May 8, 2019? The correct answer is not, “nothing special”. Or, “I’m not going to vote”, or “I don’t know who to vote for”.

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ARTICLE: TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER – CELEBRATING THE ROOTS OF OUR GREAT NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

2019-04-26

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27 April will mark the 25th anniversary of the transformation of South Africa from centuries of white minority rule to rule by the majority of all the people of the country. All over South Africa people lined up patiently to exercise their right to vote for the government of their choice – most of them for the first time in their lives.   It was, perhaps, the greatest day in the long and conflicted history of the great variety of peoples who were arbitrarily brought together 84 years earlier in the Union of South Africa. It is now quite rightly celebrated as Freedom Day – and as South Africa’s national day.

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ARTICLE: MOVING THE NEEDLE – THE YOUTH VOTE IN SOUTH AFRICA

2019-04-18

As Election 2019 kicks into full swing, the numbers, names and details have become available, much of it online. A healthy 48 political parties will be contesting the national elections, with 26.74 million – or 74.4% – of the voting population having registered to vote. Of this number, 55% are women. A significant number of registered voters, almost 25%, are in the 30 to 39 years age group.

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ARTICLE: MORE PARTIES, BETTER DEMOCRACY?

2019-04-09

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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) recently announced that 48 parties will contest the national elections on 8 May. That is more than the 29 that took part in 2014 – a 65% increase! Will greater participation, however, give South Africa a better democracy?

The astonishing fact is that according to the IEC’s website, there are 312 parties registered at national level, and 294 at provincial level. The number of parties at national level shrank to 48 due to two factors. The first is the IEC’s own selection process, which led to 118 parties being de-registered and 29 applications being rejected. The second factor is that some parties (117) did not pay the registration fee needed to participate in the election. These costs are quite high – R200 000 to participate at national level, and then R45 000 per province. A party that wishes to participate at national level and in all the provinces will therefore have to pay R605 000. A smaller party could find it challenging to raise such a sum.

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ARTICLE: THE SAHRC’S LATEST FINDING ON JULIUS MALEMA

2019-03-13

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It is with the greatest concern that the FW de Klerk Foundation notes the 8 March 2019 finding of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in which it dismisses the Foundation’s complaint of November 2016 against Julius Malema. The Foundation lodged a complaint against Malema regarding a statement that he had made outside the Newcastle Magistrate Court, in which he had said, inter alia, that “…White people found peaceful Africans here. They killed them. They slaughtered them like animals. We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now. What we are calling for is the peaceful occupation of land and we don’t owe anyone an apology for that.”

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SPEECH: THE FIRST QUARTER CENTURY

2019-01-23

It is a great pleasure once again to address the Cape Town Press Club.  
In the course of my speech I shall endeavour to revisit the remarkable process that culminated 25 years ago in the fundamental constitutional transformation of South Africa.  

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