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
Why have the institutions of the state, the Hawks and the SA Revenue Service in particular, done nothing about Malema for all this time? Why is it that when City Press and other newspapers started raising the red flag about Malema’s wealth way back in 2009, no one lifted a finger? Why is Malema being investigated and possibly charged now? Are these investigations coordinated? We have been here before. We have seen state institutions being used for political ends. The man who alleged that President Thabo Mbeki and his administration were using organs of state to go after him was none other than Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, our current president. Zuma needs to explain to the nation whether Malema is being pursued because he is indeed dipping his fingers into places they should not be dipped, or whether he is being pursued because he has proven too opinionated for the comfort of some ANC leaders. – Justice Malala
