CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS
ARTICLES AND STATEMENTS
FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION STATEMENT ON THE ADOPTION OF THE NATIONAL BUDGET AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA
The FW de Klerk Foundation acknowledges the adoption of the national Budget by the National Assembly, which passed with 194 votes in favour and 182 against, with no abstentions.
FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION HOSTS CONSTITUTIONAL EDUCATION SESSION AT RAND GIRLS’ HIGH
Ezra Mendel, on the behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Advancement Programme, recently facilitated an impactful session with students of Rand Girls’ High in Johannesburg.
2024 IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR PART 1 – KEY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SHIFTS THAT IMPACTED OUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Daniela Ellerback outlines the broad societal development that affected South Africans’ constitutional rights and freedoms during 2024 in a series of articles. This first article considers the political and economic developments.
PODCASTS
SUBMISSIONS
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:
ARTICLE: THE STATE OF PARLIAMENT
The FW de Klerk Foundation shares the concerns of participants in a recent private round-table discussion – mentioned in Business Day – on the functioning of Parliament, which was hosted by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).
The theatrical disruption of Parliament by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is unacceptable – however necessary it may be to hold the President accountable over the Nkandla issue.
ARTICLE: MAX DU PREEZ, ROOF AND STRYDOM
In an article in Tuesday’s Media24 publications Max du Preez states that Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine black worshippers in Charleston, S. Carolina, “shares apartheid’s ideology.” Du Preez goes on to say that Barend Strydom’s random killing of seven black South Africans in 1989 made him think “that his (Roof’s) identification with apartheid wasn’t so inappropriate after all.”
This inescapably creates the impression that the wanton killing of black people was somehow an integral aspect of the ideology of apartheid.
SPEECHES
EVENTS
HOW THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE CAN BE ENVISAGED AS A PEOPLE-LED, BOTTOM-UP PROCESS
Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation, outlines the development of the National Dialogue over the past year, the fundamental principles that were identified, as well as the envisioned way forward, after the National Convention, in a recent article.
PRESS STATEMENT ON THE IMPACT OF US TARIFFS ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND THE WAY FORWARD
Amirah Hassim outlines how South African youth will bear the brunt of the US tariffs, given their persistently high unemployment rate, and proposes ways to mitigate this burden through diversification.
ACHIEVING AN INCLUSIVE ECONOMY CONFERENCE
The FW de Klerk Foundation, in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, hosted its Constitutional Rights Conference on “Achieving an Inclusive Economy” in Johannesburg on 24 July 2025.
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