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
Me campaigning? Never!
I am not in the habit of reading the exquisitely boring press releases issued at the end of every cabinet meeting by the Government Communication and Information Service. But looking for anything to enlighten me on the Vusi Pikoli saga I happened on the following little nugget in the latest statement issued this afternoon.
During the month of October, a number of activities will take place around the country to intensify direct interaction between the Executive and the public. This programme kicked off this past weekend with the Presidential Imbizo which took place in the Uthukela district in KwaZulu-Natal province. This month will experience heightened communication between the Executive and the public on a variety of issues, including Transport and Social Development events, the national Imbizo week from 22 to 28 October, and the National Correctional Services Week from 15 to 19 October.
If I was slightly less cynical or suspicious and if our political atmosphere had not been so poisoned by the race for the Presidency of the ANC I would not have thought twice about this statement. But of course, we are cursed to live in interesting times, so I immediately note that the President is going to criss-cross the country a few weeks before the ANC Conference on taxpayers money to connect with the people and get top billing every night on the SABC news and radio which are watched and listened to by most delegates to the ANC conference.
Of course he will claim he is doing nothing of the sort, but he will be campaigning for the same job Zuma and Sexwale are campaigning for. Miranda Strydom, ex-officio campaign manager will let us know all about it. It happens everywhere in the world but here we cannot admit to it because ANC leaders are supposed to be called and are not supposed to campaign.
How infantile this whole system is and how strangegly it suits the unpopular incumbent.
If I was one of those FRiends of Jacob Zuma I would send a posse of supporters to every Imbizo to ask the Presidnet all the difficult questions that journalists never get the opportunity to ask before they are whisked away by Essop’s Fables. O, one will also have to tip off the lazy non government media so that they can attend and report on the President’s answers.
Just a thought…..
