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
Vote, vote vote!
Thank goodness the election campaign is over and we can all now exercise our civic right and duty to vote. Some of us have been having some difficulty in making up our minds about who to vote for, but staying at home is not an option. Vote we must. As the IEC posters says: if you do not vote you do not have a right to complain.
Having said that I have to say: sadly this election campaign has not focused sufficiently on the real issues facing the people of South Africa.
I would have loved to see parties talk more about poverty and unemployment, service delivery, the vast gap between rich and poor, racism, sexism and homophobia and the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the human dignity of every South African is respected and protected.
Opposition parties spoke often about the Constitution and the need to “defend” the Constitution against the alleged abuses of the ANC. And although some remarks by Mr Zuma about our Constitution was deeply troubling and the decision of the NPA to drop charges against Mr Zuma perhaps illegal, it is sad that not more was said about the fact that the Constitution is about far more than the NPA and its dropping of charges against Mr Zuma.
The Constitution also enjoins the state to take steps to eradicate the injustices wrought by past discrimination. It also contains a set of social and economic rights which guarantees for everyone the right of access to housing, health care, water, education and social assistance and places a duty on the state to take reasonable steps to realise these rights.
Has this happened? Will it happen if any other party is in power? I wish I knew the answers to these questions.
True constitutionalists do not pick and choose which aspects of the Constitution they like. Constitutionalism is a complete package and if we talk about defending the Constitution we should also talk about ensuring a better life for the most marginalised and vulnerable in our society.
This, of course, cannot happen when corruption and nepotism takes hold – and only time will tell if the ANC will follow through on its election promise to weed out corruption in word AND DEED.
So, tomorrow I will step into the polling booth deeply conflicted. In any case, my vote is my secret and who cares in any case who I vote for.
So, I will not be endorsing any party for the election (as if it would matter).
All I can urge all readers of this Blog is to go and and to vote and, when they do so, to consider which party comes closest to embodying the values enshrined in our Constitution.
It’s a tough call.
But it is our duty to vote and it is also a celebration of our democracy. So whomever you decide to vote for, do it with joy in your heart with the knowledge that – as Barack Obama said during his election campaign – “we are the change we have been waiting for”.
Happy election day!
