CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
STATEMENT: THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE FROM PRISON OF NELSON MANDELA
The release of Nelson Mandela from prison 30 years ago was the first momentous consequence of the announcements made by President FW de Klerk in Parliament nine days earlier. As Mr De Klerk observed in his autobiography: as he watched Nelson Mandela walking through the gates of Victor Verster Prison, he was struck by an inescapable truth: “…an irreversible process had begun and nobody could predict precisely how it would end.”
Now 30 years later we can answer part of that question:
- the constitutional democracy that FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela took the lead in negotiating during the following six years is still intact;
- South African has rejoined the international community;
- it has rid itself of the albatross of minority racial domination;
- all South Africans enjoy nominal equality;
- the new multi-racial middle class has flourished.
STATEMENT: 2020 FW DE KLERK GOODWILL AWARD
The Board of Trustees of the FW de Klerk Foundation awarded the 2020 FW de Klerk Goodwill Award to Mr Moeletsi Mbeki.
The FW de Klerk Goodwill Award was established in 2010 to give recognition to individuals and organisations that have made extraordinary contributions to the promotion of goodwill between South Africans. Past winners include Pieter-Dirk Uys (2012), Studietrust (2013), Patrice Motsepe (2014), Afrika Tikkun (2015), Adv Thuli Madonsela and the Office of the Public Protector (2016), the coach and athlete team of Mrs Anna (Ans) Botha and Mr Wayde van Niekerk (2017), and Gift of the Givers (2018).
ARTICLE: THE ROAD TO 2 FEBRUARY 1990
The road to 2 February 1990 can be traced back to the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
In 1909 Britain decided to establish a union of its principal colonies in southern Africa along the lines of the successful federations that it had set up in Australia and Canada. The difference was that in the other dominions the white populations greatly outnumbered the indigenous peoples – while in South Africa they comprised less than 25% of the total population.
Nevertheless, in keeping with the colonial approach of the times, Britain gave white South Africans a monopoly of power in the newly established Union. It was an arrangement that, in a rapidly changing world, would eventually prove to be untenable.
For the next 40 years South Africa developed along the lines of the other Commonwealth dominions. Until the mid-fifties, in a continent that was still dominated by European powers, white minority rule in South Africa seemed unexceptional. In a world in which racial discrimination was still shockingly the rule, South Africa’s segregation policies elicited little criticism.
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
SPEECHES
EVENTS
THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION 2023 REPORT CARD ON CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS
On 15 September, the FW de Klerk Foundation made a written submission to the National Council of Provinces on the National Health Insurance Bill. The Foundation analysed key failures of the NHI Bill with specific reference to the constitutional principle of the Rule of Law and rationality, the feasibility of the proposed system and governance concerns, coupled with the unfettered power of the Minister of Health (“the Minister”).
THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION’S SUBMISSION ON THE NHI BILL: THE PROPOSED NHI WILL NOT ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE
On 15 September, the FW de Klerk Foundation made a written submission to the National Council of Provinces on the National Health Insurance Bill. The Foundation analysed key failures of the NHI Bill with specific reference to the constitutional principle of the Rule of Law and rationality, the feasibility of the proposed system and governance concerns, coupled with the unfettered power of the Minister of Health (“the Minister”).
FROM WATCHDOG TO LAPDOG: HOW THE IPID AMENDMENT BILL SHAKES SOUTH AFRICA’S POLICING
On 30 July 2023, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) Amendment Bill was introduced in the National Assembly, and is currently being considered by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police. Despite being labelled as unconstitutional by legal experts, including the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor, the Bill seeks to grant unprecedented power to Police Minister Bheki Cele over the IPID. The Bill has sparked intense debate and legal scrutiny in South Africa, with concern expressed over the potential implications it carries for the nation’s policing sector.
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