Constitutionally Speaking » Quote of the week http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za This blog deals with political and social issues in South Africa, mostly from the perspective of Constitutional Law. Written by Pierre de Vos Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:10:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/2033/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/2033/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:47:04 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=2033 Do say: “We’re putting you just down the corridor from Her Majesty.”

Don’t say: “You do know she and Philip don’t share a bedroom?”

- The Guardian Pass notes column on President Jacob Zuma’s stay-over at Buckinham Palace

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/2033/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1982/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1982/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:52:30 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1982 Julius Malema: “I am not even rich… I am the poor. I am paid by the ANC… I do not have any business interests.
Debora Patta: “Do you only get money from ANC?”
Julius Malema: “Yes”
Debora Patta: “There is no other business interests?
Julius Malema: “The ANC is paying me very well.”

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1982/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1918/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1918/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:14:22 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1918 One of the key achievements of our Congress was precisely to single out in debates and resolutions the central threat to the unity and programme of our Alliance. In particular, our Congress singled out what we called “Kebble-ism” – namely, a dangerous axis between unscrupulous business people (black and white) on the one hand, and a bullying, chauvinistic populist tendency in parts of our movement on the other. Behind the headline stories of high-life parties and the flaunting of ill-gained wealth, lies the sordid reality of manipulative sponsorships, wheeling and dealing, organisational factionalism, arm-twisting and the general subversion of our democratic order. – South African Communist Party Statement issued after the first meeting of its Political Bureau for 2010.

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1918/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1905/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1905/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:18:38 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1905 It is a sad day for South Africa when the very bedrock foundation of society, the family, is redefined by a court. This ruling [sanctioning same-sex marriage] totally undermines marriage as we know it and the cherished formation of healthy, loving families. – Pastor Ray McCauley who has just announced that he is divorcing his wife Zelda. This will be McCauleys second divorce.

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1905/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1863/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1863/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:29:03 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1863 Not to follow the West is to fall behind; to copy it is to lose one’s soul. To be a Turk, Pamuk suggests, is to feel always already defeated. – Adam Shatz in a review of Orhan Pamuk’s new novel “The Museum of Innocence” published in the The London Review of Books

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1863/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1820/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1820/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:21:33 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1820 Granting them [Schabir Shaik and Eugene de Kock] presidential pardons will create a perception that the politically connected can get away with everything. This is more like condoning serious crimes and it is going to make a fight against crime a lot harder. – Stephen Friedman in The Citizen

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1820/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1783/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1783/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:37:29 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1783 These elements of BEE capital have been exploring a class axis between themselves and the great mass of marginalized, alienated, often unemployed black youth. The material glue of this axis is the politics of patronage, of messiahs, and its tentative ideological form is a demagogic African chauvinism. Because of its rhetorical militancy the media often portrays it as “radical” and “left-wing” – but it is fundamentally right-wing, even proto-fascist. While it is easy to dismiss the buffoonery of some of the leading lieutenants, we should not underestimate the resources made available to them, and the huge challenge we all have when it comes to millions of increasingly alienated, often unemployed youth who are potentially available for all kinds of demagogic mobilization. – Blade Nzimande at the SACP Special National Congress, December 2009

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1783/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1752/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1752/#comments Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:58:01 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1752 The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing in the face of evil and injustice…. The appointment of Adv Menxi Simelani to the high office of National Director of Public Prosecutions calls us to ask difficult questions: do we honour President Jacob Zuma or do we honour justice? If we honour justice, let us speak up against evil and injustice. – Father Jo Mangaliso Mdhlela, Anglican Parish, Thokoza in a letter to Business Day

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1752/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1727/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1727/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:07:53 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1727/ In the last year and especially the last few weeks, following the speeches of President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi, state-supported AIDS denialism has been destroyed. If [Rian] Malan had any shame, he would have stayed out of the public light after supporting an ideology responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. But he is shameless and his denialist scribblings have continued. – Nathan Geffen from the Treatment Action Campaign

]]> http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1727/feed/ 0 http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1683/ http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/1683/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:37:13 +0000 Pierre De Vos http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1683 The Black Management Forum and the ANC Youth League have lined up to accuse Godsell and the Eskom board of racism; the state-owned enterprises have become a  “slaughterhouse” for black professionals bemoans the BMF. On the other hand, and to its enormous credit, you have Cosatu (in the person of Zwelinzima Vavi) defending Godsell and the attempts (Godsell has led) to make Eskom equal to the task of providing South Africa with adequate and sustainable power. Cosatu versus the BMF and the ANCYL? It’s not often that organisations reflect their ideology and class interests so precisely. This situation  looks very much like the industrial working class versus crony capitalist wannabes. – Nic Boraine on his Blog

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