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.
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
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