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
Constitutionally Speaking is expanding
Along with the new design, Constitutionally Speaking is expanding to include two new sections. Contributions are invited to the seminar room, which is a forum for debate and discussion on constitutional law and political governance issues. Submissions must be between 700 and 3000 words and can deal with any relevant constitutionalism topic, including a comment on a court judgment or academic article, a book review, a copy of a talk or original writing on a topical issue. You may also wish to send information about seminars, conferences, lectures or new publications which can be advertised on the updates page.
Send all contributions to pierre.devos@uct.ac.za
