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.
The Cape independence movement is South Africa’s best catalyst for political decentralisation, which is in turn a necessary condition for secure liberty.
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.
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.
As we battle with a state that is running out of funds – but not out of things to spend the funds on – we must have a through conversation about what rights are and what they are not.
The NHI Bill represents an unachievable, unaffordable, and unconstitutional policy.
The NHI Bill is politically motivated, unaffordable, incapable of delivering better health outcomes, and will infringe on numerous constitutional rights.
This article was first published by BizNews on 5 October 2023 The behaviour of some members of Parliament and other office-bearers in government leaves the observer with
Freedom is something – perhaps the only thing – worth using coercive violence for, but never against.
