South Africa: Constitutional Assembly Resources

20 December 1994


The Secretary
Constitutional Assembly
P 0 Box 15
CAPE TOWN
8000


Dear Sir

I submit the following for consideration.
Democracy

This should not be allowed to degenerate into mob rule. The recent trade union statement that as strike action had been voted for by a majority in our democracy those against strikes would be forced to stay away from work. This is an infringement of the right to work, if one has work and verges on mob rule.

Character of the State

In order to allow for the multiplicity of cultures and languages a

FEDERAL constitution would be the most 'suitable. There could then be

CNE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE for the country with different additional
languages for each province. This would be most effective and more efficient as well as permitting a Volkstaat. A newspaper published a figure of R900 000 per month for translating in the legislature. This could be better spent. There was no mention that this cost included the costs of the Gazette, the size and cost of which in eleven languages would be monstrous.

I understand that all judges, magistrates and public officials must or should be proficient in th~e official langua&e(s) of the country and that interpreters are normally provided where the accused's language is not one of the official languages. To expect them to know or even understand more than one, two or even three is unlikely in the short term and inefficient and possible unfair in the longer term.

Since a State is run on money and the more prosperous the State the more money there is to meet the needs of the lest fortunate, those who contribute most should have a greater say. This may be regarded as an attempt to have the privileged secure their position indefinitely. It is not submitted with that in mind nor for that purpose. The
composition of the "have' class is changing rapidly and that will continue. It is submitted for two reasons. First, that the paying of tax would be rewarded and thus become more acceptable. The taxpayer who paid say, R1000 each year would have one extra vote and so on in multiples of whatever figure is used. This multiple vote system was tried in Cambridge, England, before there were computers and later replaced because it was felt to be unduly complex. Second, those who

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pay the most tax should be the ones making the greatest contribution to the prosperity of the country and this should be recognised in some way.

Accountability-

This is essential but difficult to enforce in practice. The simpler the system and the greater the delegation of powers to the lower levels of government the more likely accountability can be enforced.

First, breach of faith or non-performance or unacceptable actions of an elected member should be able to be controlled by the electorate by means of removing the representative on a vote by @is/her constituents. Under the present system this would mean that parliamentarians would have to be allocated to a constituency.

Secondly, misdeeds or non-deeds by elected members of lower bodies could

be controlled by parliament or failure by that body by the

constitutional court.

Bill of RI&US

Yes, but it must be balanced by obligations or duties. The current universal clamour for rights has given rise to an attitude that everybody should have rights but obligations are for others. Without the inculcation of a sense of duty the country could slide down the slipper slide of the abyss of anarchy. One must be required to respect the rig@ts of the others (eg. the rights to work referred to earlier).

The prospective criminal should know that his victim has rights and there is an obligation to respect such rights. I take a life and am liable to pay with mine. The DEATH ought to be retained. steal something and ought to be forced to compensate the victim as well as pay for the breach of society's rule as my behaviour creates a debt to society.

The police should have the support of the State and the judiciary should be persuaded that in addition--to the principle of reformation, society and all its law abiding members have a right to protection and criminals should be discouraged vigorously.

The Courts

The present system has worked reasonable well but ideally the courts should be distinct and separate from government and allowed to administer JUSTICE under the IAW. JUDGES must be independent and magistrates should, but need not be, for the judges can correct any errors made by magistrates.

Recourse to law is not affordable to many but the legal aid system is liable to severe abuse. It is suggested @hat the rules of court could be simplified to enable people to appear without representation by eliminating many technicalities.

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Public Service

I hope we shall return to the CIVIL SERVICE both in name and spirit.

By simplifying procedures and the structures of the service it should be possible to reduce the size and thus increase the efficiency and productivity. The conditions of service could then be brought in line with the private sector by:

(a) comparable salaries,

(b) eliminating the buying back of pensions and

(c) reduced security of tenure.

Finance

Taxation rates must be reduced and this may be assisted by spreading the tax net through indirect taxes.

A previous Minister of Finance eliminated the road tax as a separate fund and now there is no money for road development and maintenance. This misleading or hoodwinking the public is unacceptable.

A State is run on money as previously stated and finance and the fiscus is thus the bedrock of government and the more emphasis on them the

better. In order to achieve this the Reserve Bank must be independent

so that it and the department of finance may interact on equal terms

thereby both may benefit from the view of the other and the actions of

the one may be influenced by the acts of the other. This is not likely

where there is no independence.

Gender K~ity

Rights and duties, opportunity and risk should be the same for all. Men and women are complementary and a commission on the rights of any group should not be necessary, for to achieve the aim AU laws should be reviewed eliminating those not longer necessary and simplifying the whole system to facilitate justice.

Thus it is suggested that instead of a commission to which parties plead their case for their own ends, a thorough-going review should be undertaken.

To this end I submit that statistics presently published on the basis of colour and sex should be terminated. Those relating to economics should use economic clarifications and others may be on age or some other relevant basis but NOT sex or colour.

Constitution

This should be a simple document outlining enforceable principles of rights and obligations but not detailing each. The more specific the more amendments will become necessary and that, it is submitted, is undesirable.

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Security Forces

These should be accountable to Parliament and the Head of State and controlled by a member of the cabinet who must accept control and resign if any breaches of the law are perpetrated (This goes for all departments).

The forces should not be above the law, the constitution included, but they should be given full support to ensure law and order is maintained.

I should be grateful if consideration could be given to the points raised even if-rejected or amended.

Yours faithfully

K