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2 February 1995
Dear Sirs,
I accept your invitation to submit
my opinion an the Constitution.
. My-principal concerns are with the Freedom
of Speech and of the Press and Media and with a.truly open government at all
levels.
(1) Freedom of the Press ;Should be complete and Ltnfettered.I view a
free press asi the only practical safeguard of democracy and
of my rights as a
clitizen.Experience in South Africa,ahd elsewhere,has shown repeatedly that
without exposure in the press and media
the naturall tendency of those in power
and their bureaucrats to abuse theirlpositions is uncontralled.It is not
sufficient to rely
upon the police or the Courts to protect our rights.These
bodies have yetito show themselves adequate to the task.
In due time there
will be a,Constitutional Court available,in principle,to those who seek to
assert their rights.However the costs
of seeking redress might well be beyond
the means of the average citizen.@l therefore suggest that the State should bear
the costs
of an appeal to the Constitutional Court.
(2) All public affairs
should be conducted openly and participation in debates by the public
allowed.All expenditure of public monies
should be open to detailed scrutiny.Nc)
secret accounts,na covert operations aripayments.A public servant,or an elected
representitive,shDLtld
have no payments or priviliges which are not publicly
agreed upon in advance.
May I add finally that I think that the
Constitution document should be as simple as passible.Too much detail at this
stage will lead
to confusion and@ipossibly serious amissions.It is,for
example,not necessary to pell out rights for certain groups of people if the
those ba@ic rights are already accorded to all.
Thank you for this opportunity.
y faithfully,
R.Shone
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