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
The problem with cronies is that they always have to eat first. Again, ask Hosni Mubarak. No matter how straight your face is when you approve your five-year plans and your growth paths and your job-creation schemes, there’s always another priority. The cronies. They’re the ones who need Transnet to build track to their mines today . They’re the ones who want this person appointed to that position. A quick special meeting before the main meeting. They’re the reason you can never truly throw yourself at any problem, just in case you get in their way. The cronies are a direct tax on the poor. Zuma can’t see it because his only direct experience of money is getting it and not making it. It’s almost not his fault, but I won’t patronise him. He is responsible for his actions and he makes his own choices. – Peter Bruce, in Business Day
