CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
STATEMENT: CHANGES AT THE FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION
At its meeting of 1 February 2016, the Board of Trustees of the FW de Klerk Foundation decided to appoint the present Chairman, Dr Theuns Eloff, as Executive Director of the Foundation with effect from 1 July 2016. At the same meeting it elected the present Executive Director, Dave Steward, as the new Chairman of the Board of Trustees, with effect from the same date – after he had announced his intention of stepping down as Executive Director after 17 years in the post.
SPEECH – JUSTICE ALBIE SACHS: THE FUTURE OF MULTICULTURALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE VISION OF THE CONSTITUTION
If we did a paternity or maternity test on the South African Constitution, whose DNA do you think would come up? It’s no one in this room, although there are people here who made a major contribution. Nor is it Nelson Mandela. The answer is: Oliver Tambo.
STATEMENT: THE FW DE KLERK GOODWILL AWARD 2016
The Board of Trustees of the FW de Klerk Foundation decided at its last meeting in 2015 to award the 2016 FW de Klerk Goodwill Award to Public Protector, Adv Thuli Madonsela, and her team.
The Board established the FW de Klerk Goodwill Award in 2010, to give recognition to individuals and organisations that have made exceptional contributions to the promotion of goodwill between South Africans. Past winners include Dr Danny Jordaan (2011); Pieter-Dirk Uys (2012); Studietrust (2013); Patrice Motsepe (2014) and Afrika Tikkun (2015).
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
SPEECHES
EVENTS
ARTICLE: CAN CYRIL AND TITO’S ECONOMIC KITE FLY?
The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) issued a report on 28 August entitled “Running out of Road: South Africa’s public finances and what is to be done”. They conclude that if South Africa does not overcome its fiscal crisis, there will be no accelerated economic growth. However, the opposite is also true: if we don’t start growing the economy, we will not be able to cope with the fiscal crisis. South Africa needs an uncompromising growth strategy, which must be applied strictly. CDE Chief Ann Bernstein warns that Government and the ruling party do not seem to fully realise how profound the changes are that are needed and how much leadership it will take from the President to get it right.
ARTICLE: WHAT IS THE END GAME – SANDF DEPLOYMENT
It has been over a month since the most recent deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) into the gang-ridden Cape Flats of Cape Town. On the one hand, the City is one of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations – and on the other, has one of the highest murder rates (over 60/100 000) in the world. The SANDF was deployed on 18 June 2019 for what has been wrongly cited by many sources as three months, when according to the President’s letter to Parliament, the deployment is to run from 18 July to 16 September 2019 – just under a two-month period. This gives the SANDF significantly less time to execute its mandate in the areas into which it was deployed. Contrary to the expectations of many members of the public and public officials who consistently called for the SANDF’s deployment, there has been little significant improvement to the lives of those affected.
ARTICLE: THE ANC’S DISASTROUS NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE PROPOSAL
There is nothing wrong with first world national health schemes if you are a first world country. Unfortunately, South Africa is not a first world country and simply does not have the resources or manpower to achieve the ambitious objectives of the ANC’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
As it stands, the NHI has the potential to cause more havoc than even the dire prospect of expropriation without compensation. If it is implemented as envisaged it will have a direct impact on the lived experience of South Africa’s multi-racial middle class, millions of South Africans who already bear a heavy tax burden. If parents with sick children have to wait for weeks for medical appointments – and for yet more weeks to see specialists – their frustration and anger will dominate their lives. And to make things worse, the NHI will not make any difference to the presently crippled and defunct public health system.
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