CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
ARTICLE: FREEDOM DAY – IS THERE ANYTHING TO CELEBRATE?
As with other historical events, many South Africans still remember 27 April 1994 very well. A day of long voting queues and goodwill, the feeling of a new beginning. It was the birth of the “New South Africa”.
After that, many Freedom Days followed. Numerous South Africans, especially those who experienced 1994, will regard this year’s Freedom Day as the lowest point of all Freedom Days.
Why? Because we see what is happening to us in the political, economic and social arena. There is great tension in the ruling party – about the current President, but also in the leadership struggle for a new President. There is talk of corruption and state capture by government leaders and officials. We see the economy stagnate and that our country’s financial system has basically been downgraded to junk status. We experience racial tension and an apparent total lack of reconciliation and shared values.
ARTICLE: SOCIAL COHESION IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICA
As South Africans mourn the death of a great leader in Ahmed Kathrada, the broadest consensus on both social media and the mainstream, was one that expressed bereavement for a towering man who had lived through the worst of times and the best of times but died a sad man. Why was this so, we ask? Ahmed Kathrada’s poignant letter to the President summed up his and the views of millions of South Africans. We expected more, we expected better and are now bereft.
It was a poignant start to the Centre for Unity in Diversity’s Roundtable Series – held on 28 March in Cape Town – to pause and reflect on a great man’s legacy as we gathered to reflect on our first theme for the year, “Social Cohesion in Contemporary South Africa”. The Roundtable Series is crafted to stimulate discussion and debate on core issues that flow from the constitutional premise, “United in our Diversity”, captured in the Preamble.
ARTICLE: SOCIAL COHESION IN CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICA
As South Africans mourn the death of a great leader in Ahmed Kathrada, the broadest consensus on both social media and the mainstream, was one that expressed bereavement for a towering man who had lived through the worst of times and the best of times but died a sad man.
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
SPEECHES
EVENTS
ARTICLE: TAKING STOCK AT THE BEGINNING OF PHASE III
Now that we are entering Phase III of the COVID19 lockdown process, this may be a good time to take stock.
We live in the strangest of times. The world’s great airports are idle. Hundreds of thousands of hotels have closed. Schools and universities are empty. Millions of restaurants are shut. Everywhere owners of small and medium-size businesses are wracking their brains and scraping the barrel of their resources to keep their doors open. Tens of millions throughout the world have lost their jobs – and tens of millions more are subsisting on greatly reduced wages.
ARTICLE: LITIGATION BY THE HELEN SUZMAN FOUNDATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COVID19 CRISIS
The FW de Klerk foundation welcomes the Helen Suzman Foundation’s (HSF) application, direct to the Constitutional Court, to declare that Parliament, the President and the Cabinet have failed to fulfill their obligations under the Constitution to prepare and adopt legislation to regulate the state’s response to the threat posed by COVID19.
The HSF has asked the Court to direct the Cabinet and Parliament to prepare and adopt such legislation – and to declare that the powers that the Minister of Cooperative Governance has assumed under the Disaster Management Act to manage the crisis will be terminated as soon as the requested legislation has been adopted.
FW De Klerk Image Archive & Gallery
FW De Klerk Image Archive, photos from Key Events in FW De Klerk’s Life and Presidency.
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