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.
Miriam Makeba, who died yesterday, was up there for me with Nelson Mandela as a true South African icon. Such a strong women, so sexy, so many beautiful songs to remember her by, and that voice will haunt me for ever. Even when I saw her performing at the Cape Town Jazz festival two years ago and her voice was not what it used to be, she gave me cold shivers. This is one of my favourite tracks, which I post in honour of her memory.
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