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CSL2601 Assignment 2_MARK084100
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CSL2601ASSIGNMENT
2_MARK08410
0
, Name: Akira Maharaj Student number: 62048511
Assignment 2 Unique number: 825201
Question 1
1.1) The right to vote is one of the most basic and fundamental rights in a democracy. To
vote means that citizens may exercise their right to choose who must represent them as
a political party.
In August and Another v Electoral Commission and Others,1 the Constitutional Court
pointed out that the right to vote in section 19(2) of the Constitution is unqualified. It
therefore cannot be taken away from any citizen arbitrarily or in a way that is not
reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society. 2 Sachs J declared that the
vote of each and every citizen is a “badge of dignity and personhood. Quite literally, it
says that everybody counts.3
In Richter v The Minister for Home Affairs & Others the Court, in reference with the
aforementioned August judgement, held that the right to vote, as well as its exercise,
has a constitutional importance.
The Court held that the right to vote ‘by its very nature imposes positive obligations
upon the legislature and the executive… [and] … [t]his clearly imposes an affirmative
obligation on the Commission to take reasonable steps to ensure that eligible voters are
registered’.4 In the August case, the court held that by omitting to take appropriate
steps to ensure that prisoners were able to register and vote in the national election, the
Commission had failed to comply with its obligations. The importance of the right to
vote was reaffirmed in the New National Party where Yacoob J stressed that the right to
vote is fundamental to democracy and requires proper arrangements to be made for it
effective exercise.5
The courts have on several occasions pronounced on the right to vote and its
significance for democracy. The courts have also had occasion to consider the
relationship between the citizenry and their elected representatives.
1
(CCT8/99) [1999] ZACC 3; 1999 (3) SA 1; 1999 (4) BCLR 363 (1 April 1999)
2
August paras 3 and 20
3
August para 17
4
August para 16
5
New National Party para 11
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