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J D MANN
Pretoria
21 May 1996
OBJECTIONS TO THE
CONSTITUTION
(i) Particular provision of, or omission from, the
Constitution to which objection is taken:
Constitution of the Republic
of South Africa Bill, 6 May 1996, (B34A-96).
Life -- Provision 11.
Everyone has the right to life; and
Freedom and security of the person -- Provision 12(1).(c). Everyone has the
right to freedom and security of the person which includes
the right - to be
free from all forms of violence from both public and private
sources.
(ii) The grounds for objection:
- The
right to life should not be applicable to persons who have forfeited such a
right by unlawfully taking, or by posing a threat
to, the life of another
person. In this respect, any right of personal self-defence shall not be
infringed. Provision 11 should
be restored to the originally stated Option 3 of
the Refined Working Draft dated 18 March 1996 to allow for any prescribed death
penalties.
- The
right to be free of all forms of violence also demands that a person must
have:
a) an entrenched right of personal self-defence; and
b) some means of ensuring the right of self-defence by entrenching the right
of all law-abiding, eligible, persons to possess and
use licenced firearms for
such purposes. These rights must form part of Provision 12(1),(c).
- It
is an undeniable fact that the Republic of South Africa is the most unlawful
country in the world (war-zones excluded) and neither
the Government nor any of
the Law Enforcement Services appear capable of providing the necessary
constraints to suppress the increasingly
ongoing violence that is occurring.
The need for some violence deterrent such as the death penalty or other means of
violence constraint
by civilian participation is obvious.
- The
Constitutional Assembly has already conceded in a full page public advert (The
Citizen, dated 10 May 1995) that persons have
the right to defend themselves.
This public admission should therefore be entrenched into the
Constitution.
(iii) The relevant Constitutional principles contained in Schedule 4 with
which the provision, or omission, does not comply
Constitutional Principle 2 - Everyone shall enjoy all universally accepted
fundamental rights, freedoms and civil liberties, which
shall be provided for
and protected by entren‑ched and justiciable. provisions in the
Constitution which shall be drafted after
giving due consideration to, inter
alia, the fundamental rights contained in Chapter 3 of this
Constitution.
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30 May 1996
CERTIFICATION OF NEW
CONSTITUTIONAL TEXT
Thank you for your submission of 21 May
1996.
I have been asked by the President of the Constitutional Court to
inform you that your submission will in due course be taken into
account by the
Constitutional Court.
M NIENABER
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