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.
(1) No person may-
(a) compel or unlawfully persuade any person-
(i) to register or not to register as a voter;
(ii) to vote or not to vote;
(iii) to vote or not to vote for any party or candidate;
(iv) to support or not to support any party or candidate; or
(v) to attend and participate in, or not to attend and participate in, any political meeting, march, demonstration or other political event;