Quote of the week
Universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational values of our entire constitutional order. The achievement of the franchise has historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood. The universality of the franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it says that everybody counts. In a country of great disparities of wealth and power it declares that whoever we are, whether rich or poor, exalted or disgraced, we all belong to the same democratic South African nation; that our destinies are intertwined in a single interactive polity.
August and Another v Electoral Commission and Others (CCT8/99) [1999] ZACC 3
History cannot be written (or spoken about) to make the current generation feel good about the present. Societies cannot live in peace unless they are prepared to delve into all that has gone before — to ask the uncomfortable question, point the accusing finger, challenge the sacred myth. This is why, sadly, during this, the country’s centenary year, we have lost an opportunity to build deeper understanding of each other. – Prof Peter Vale in Business Day
