For all its positives, democracy has a faulty premise. It presumes, in error, that bringing together a group of people to vote or otherwise collectively decide on something, can create new rights and authority out of thin air.
Should SA capture the experience, capital, and thrift of its 1 million first generation citizens living abroad, I see parallel success in politics, business and administration.
The Cape independence movement is South Africa’s best catalyst for political decentralisation, which is in turn a necessary condition for secure liberty.
Thirty years of poor economic choices, horrific corruption and tolerated incompetence have left us with a government unable or unwilling to make the investments that count.
As decent people we need to respect the dignity, agency, and responsibility of individuals, which must mean that we allow those individuals to falter, to bind themselves to less-than-ideal agreements, and to fail in their endeavours.
Onerous minimum conditions of employment, such as the compulsory minimum wage, or other regulatory conditions imposed on employers, all serve to consign women and young people in South Africa, in large numbers, to the ranks of the long-term unemployed.
Two million Palestinians are trapped in the Gaza strip. They have nowhere to go except hell. That is part of the Hamas plan.
Even if you were a committed communist, or a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party, what would you put in a constitution if it was guaranteed that your worst enemy would govern your country (and by extension, you) under it?
The exercise of those powers of decentralisation, as exemplified in the Western Cape bill, should be seen as a strength of our constitutional democracy.
Government’s responsibility is to create an environment that will increase employment opportunities, reduce unemployment, and reduce poverty.
