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
No comment….
The SA Communist Party said it was convinced that the “persecution” of Zuma was a “politically inspired affair”.
Cosatu does not believe however that today’s judgment changes the basic facts, which are that it will be impossible for the ANC president to have a fair trial given the long delays and the trial by media,” it said.
“Cosatu remains convinced that the whole prosecution process has been politically motivated and will continue to demand the dropping of all charges.”
