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
Mogalakwena municipality in Mokopane, Limpopo, is facing legal action over the re-instatement of a senior official who was dismissed after being found guilty on several charges. A report in the Sowetan says this follows allegations that the decision to re-instate the official was done on instruction of the ANC. The council has been dragged to the North Gauteng High Court over the reinstatement following allegations that the official was found guilty on 26 different charges. The papers filed with the court by Mahwelereng civic leader Piet Pale show that the ANC in the Waterberg region wrote to Mayor Esther Mothibi, instructing her to convene a special council meeting to reverse the disciplinary hearing’s findings and re-instate municipal director for corporate services, Henry Thobejane. Pale seeks an order to set aside the resolution by the council to re-instate Thobejane because ‘it fails to pass the test of rationality and reasonableness’. Thobejane was charged with, among others, fraud, theft, gross dishonesty, dereliction of duties, unofficial removal of official documents and destroying official information, financial misconduct and failure to carry out lawful instructions. The hearing, chaired by Advocate AP Laka, found him guilty on all 26 charges and recommended that he be dismissed with immediate effect. – Legalbriefs
