CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
ELECTORAL COUNTDOWN AS JOHANNESBURG HANGS BY A THREAD
Johannesburg’s growing fiscal and governance crisis has become more than a municipal problem. It is now a constitutional and economic warning about what happens when political instability, infrastructure decay and financial mismanagement begin to hollow out local government. As South Africa approaches the 4 November 2026 local government elections, the future of Johannesburg may well become a referendum on whether democratic governance can still deliver stability, accountability and basic services.
FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION: SOUTH AFRICA NEEDS DIGITAL ACCESS LAW THAT MAKES SENSE
The FW de Klerk Foundation notes ICASA’s recent statement that, under the current Electronic Communications Act of 2005, full recognition of equity equivalent investment programmes in telecommunications would require legislative amendment. That position, coupled with Minister Solly Malatsi’s stated intention to pursue such amendments, reveals a deeper problem than a single regulatory dispute. It reveals a legal and policy disharmony that South Africa can no longer afford. As the country moves toward the 4 November 2026 local government elections, digital access is no longer peripheral. It bears directly on service delivery, public participation, education, local accountability and economic inclusion.
SAHRC REPORT: SERVICE DELIVERY FAILURES IN THE NORTHERN CAPE, NO LONGER ADMINISTRATIVE GLITCHES, BUT SYSTEMIC HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
The South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) 2025-2026 Provincial Inquiry Report into the Northern Cape serves as a harrowing indictment of local governance. Spanning 26 local municipalities, the report details a landscape where the constitutional promise of dignity is being systematically eroded by institutional incapacity, financial mismanagement, and a catastrophic failure of basic infrastructure.
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
MARRYING SOUTH AFRICA’S MARRIAGE LAWS
Today, the FW de Klerk Foundation made a submission to Parliament on the Draft Marriage Bill 2022.
THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION MAKES A SUBMISSION TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES ON THE PREVENTION AND COMBATING OF HATE CRIMES AND HATE SPEECH BILL
On 22 May, the FW de Klerk Foundation made a submission to the Select Committee on Security and Justice of the National Council of Provinces on the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill (the Bill).
STRIKING A BALANCE BETWEEN SECTION 25 AND SECTION 26 OF THE CONSTITUTION
Striking a Balance Between Section 25 and Section 26 of the Constitution Issued By the FW de Klerk Foundation on 02/05/2023 On Tuesday 25
SPEECHES
EVENTS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS FAILING SOUTH AFRICANS – HERE IS HOW WE FIX IT
For millions of South Africans, the Constitution promises open, accountable and responsive government, dignity, equality and access to basic services like water. Yet for many communities, those promise collapses at local government level. Water taps run dry, refuse is not collected, potholes are permanent and corruption goes unpunished.
SECURING THE FOUNDATION OF PROSPERITY: WHY SOUTH AFRICA MUST EXPAND, NOT ABOLISH, PROPERTY RIGHTS
Three decades after South Africa’s transition to a non-racial democracy, the country’s unresolved land question remains one of its most volatile political and economic fault lines. Recently, calls to abolish private land ownership have resurfaced with renewed vigor. Promoted by political figures such as Mzwanele “Jimmy” Manyi and the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), this populist rhetoric advocates for the elimination of private property in favour of total state ownership or state trusteeship.
WHEN ANGER FINDS THE WRONG TARGET…XENOPHOBIC PROTESTS AND THE 2026 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
South Africa’s local government elections are approaching at a time of real unemployment, service delivery and governance failures, but xenophobic mobilisation is directing public anger at the wrong target. The article argues that anti-immigrant protests undermine constitutional accountability by replacing demands for competent local government with scapegoating, fear and unlawful vigilantism. The FW de Klerk Foundation warns that South Africa’s genuine grievances must be resolved through the rule of law, democratic accountability and constitutional governance – not hostility toward vulnerable minorities.
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
- Equality
- Non-racialism
- Gender Rights
- The Constitution
- The Rule of Law
- Multiparty Democracy
- Personal Rights
- Cultural, Religious and Language Rights
- Freedom of Expression and Political Rights
- Social and Economic Rights
- Property Rights
- Education
- Access To The Courts, Information And Fair Adminstration