CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
ARTICLE: DOES MR LESUFI DESERVE A PASS?
The Gauteng MEC for Education, Andrek Panyaza Lesufi, is an interesting man. A large part of the mainly black population think the world of him. He is a MEC who is “hands-on”, and is seen and heard wherever there is trouble in the Gauteng school system. He is regularly in the media and holds a press conference once a week – usually on a Sunday afternoon at his home. He was even mentioned as a possible successor to the current Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga. Another part of mostly the white (and Afrikaans) population is of the opinion that he is waging war on Afrikaans as a language of instruction in schools – and in addition to that, harbours anti-white sentiments.
STATEMENT: PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA’S STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS
The FW de Klerk Foundation has often expressed the view that the choice confronting the ANC – and accordingly South Africa – is between the racial ideology of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) on the one hand, and the much more pragmatic approach of the National Development Plan (NDP), on the other. For us the most significant elements in President Ramaphosa’s SONA speech last night were:
- a strong reaffirmation of the NDP and a new determination to place it “at the centre of our national effort, to make it alive, to make it part of the lived experience of the South African people”;
- an unambiguous reaffirmation of South African Reserve Banks’ constitutional role to protect the value of the rand in the interest of balanced and sustainable growth; and
- a brief reference to the core question of land reform with a renewed commitment to “accelerated land reform in rural and urban areas” and significantly “a clear property rights regime” – as well as an announcement that the Cabinet would soon consider the report of the Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture.
ARTICLE: POLITICS BY INSULT
Recent judgments and current court cases involving Julius Malema, the leader of the EFF, are helping to clarify the acceptable limits of political comment.
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
SPEECHES
EVENTS
NEW LAND COURT BILL THREATENS INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY
On 23 May 2023, Parliament passed the Land Court Bill, which it believes will resolve “backlogs in land claims and dispute resolution mechanisms”, and ensure that “land reform in its entirety be accelerated in a lawful and equitable manner, guided by progressive jurisprudence”. The FW de Klerk Foundation remains deeply concerned that the Land Courts and the Land Appeal Court, which will be established by the Bill.
ANNUAL REPORT CARD ON CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS
2019 Annual Report Card on Cultural, Religious and Language Rights Introduction For centuries the central theme of South Africa’s history has been interaction
NXESI PROMISES NUANCE IN EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
A “ground-breaking” settlement reached yesterday between Employment & Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi and trade union Solidarity states that “affirmative action shall be applied in a nuanced way… and the economically active population (EAP) statistics will only be one of the many factors that will be taken into account in the compliance analysis of affirmative action in any workplace”.
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