CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
ARTICLE: THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF INVESTMENT BILL
The Department of Trade and Industry has just published the latest version of the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill. The Bill has its origins in the government’s wish to reassure foreign investors who were alarmed by South Africa’s decision three years ago to terminate its Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with a number of European countries. Its purpose is supposedly to provide for “the legislative protection of investors” and the “promotion of investment”.
STATEMENT: MANDELA DAY 2015
In celebration of the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela, and in keeping with the theme of ‘take action; inspire change’, staff of the FW de Klerk Foundation and its Centre for Constitutional Rights (the CFCR) will be donating their ‘67 minutes’ to Autism Western Cape on Friday, 17 July. The Foundation has a long-standing relationship with Autism Western Cape, which provides support, advisory services, training, counselling and other resources to autistic children and their families – free of charge.
ARTICLE: IDEOLOGIES AND “PRAGMATISM WITHOUT BOUNDARIES”
There has recently been a revealing polemical exchange between Joel Netshitenzhe, the former chief ideologist of the National Democratic Revolution, and the SACP’s chief ideologist, Jeremy Cronin.
In a critique of the SACP’s 2014 “Going to the Root” discussion document, Netshitenzhe endorsed the need for the radical implementation of the second phase of the NDR. However, he made the following points:
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
SPEECHES
EVENTS
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: 20 JUNE 2019 – RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE: REFUGEE RECEPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
On June 20, World Refugee Day is internationally observed. This day is dedicated to commemorating the strength, courage, and resilience of millions of refugees, who are forced to flee their countries of origin under threat of persecution, conflict, and violence every day. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) theme this year is “With Refugees”, a campaign that encourages civil society and governments to take action to provide access to education, safe shelter, and employment opportunity to refugees.
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