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.
[Julius] Malema’s story is powerful because it is deep and it is true. There is a resounding dissonance in this country. Politically, we are equal, and that comes from the present. Socially, we are anything but equal, and that comes from the past. Malema says it better than anyone, and that is why he is in our thoughts.- Jonny Steinberg in Business Day
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