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
Thabo Mbeki responds to allegations by Willem heath
Statement from the office of former president Thabo Mbeki regarding the City Press interview with Advocate Willem Heath
The office of former president Thabo Mbeki has noted Advocate Willem Heath’s interview in the City Press newspaper’s edition of December 4, 2011 in which he makes defamatory and malicious allegations against the former President.
Among others, Advocate Heath alleges that “during his tenure …as President of the Republic”, the former president “abused his position to compromise the criminal justice system by blocking some investigations into corrupt practices and ‘initiated’ the corruption and rape charges preferred against President Jacob Zuma by the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions”.
Former president Mbeki categorically rejects all the allegations Advocate Heath has made. They are devoid of all truth.
The allegations made by Advocate Heath are very grave, more so because they are made by the Head of the Special Investigation Unit, a critical organ of our criminal justice system and suggest illegal conduct on the part of a former head of state and government.
Although Advocate Heath, a former judge, does not seem to have much regard for the decisions of the courts (including the Constitutional Court) except those with which he agrees, it is worth emphasising that the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found no basis in the allegation of political interference on the part of former president Mbeki and the then Cabinet in the corruption case of President Zuma.
Among other things, the SCA said that “the allegations (of political interference) were … irrelevant … gratuitous and based on suspicion and not on fact”.
The legal representative of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation has today formally approached government to provide evidence of all the allegations made by Advocate Heath.
The office of former president Thabo Mbeki also notes comments attributed to President Zuma about Advocate Heath insofar as they may relate to the latter’s comments on the former president.
In the past, former president Mbeki has drawn attention to the use of fabrications to advance particular political agendas and to divert attention from the pressing challenges of the day.
If our broad leadership at all levels of society do not address this tendency, it may become an indelible part of our political culture and make it impossible for our country to address the real challenges we face.
Since his retirement, former president Mbeki has avoided commenting on domestic politics. It is with great reluctance that he is now being forced to comment on Adv. Heath’s allegations.
» Issued by the office of former president Thabo Mbeki, Johannesburg, December 8 2011
