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.
The Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers) Movement website contains a picture (below) of the site where Joe Slovo residents will be moved if their appeal against the eviction order by Judge President John Hlophe is unsuccessful. The Court accepted that this accommodation was far better than the existing accommodation in Joe Slovo. Must say, it looks rather cosy….
Maybe there is a reason why the inhabitants of Joe Slovo (pictures below) would not want to me moved 15 km further away to a souless dump from town to a place not accessible by train and hence much more difficult and expensive to travel to and from.
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