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News – South Africa: Separating the wheat from the chaff

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2008-11-01 Time: 02:00:01  Posted By: Jan

All those who believe in the supremacy of the Constitution belong in the same political party, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.

This weekend’s national convention organised by Mbhazima Shilowa and Terror Lekota had the potential to be a turning point in South African politics, she told a media briefing at Parliament.

“The DA has long noted that the current political formations, trapped in the racial rhetoric of the past, are obsolete and that a political realignment is necessary to reveal the real political choices South Africa faces.”

The Constitution had to be the basis of this realignment. The defenders of the Constitution were currently located in various political parties, with the DA “at the forefront”.

“All those who believe in the supremacy of the Constitution, what I call the ‘regstaat’ [rule of law], belong in the same political party.

“All those who believe in the supremacy of the ruling clique of the ruling party, in other words, the ‘higher law of the party’, or the ‘magstaat’ [law of rule], belong in a different party,” Zille said.

The dividing line between these two opposing philosophies ran down the middle of the ANC.

“We believe the national convention could help separate the wheat from the chaff.”

If the convention facilitated this, it would, with hindsight, be recognised as a pivotal development in South African politics.

However, if it merely spawned a “carbon copy of the old ANC”, differentiated only by revenge and competing power cliques, it would be an opportunity lost.

If the convention helped clear the way for peaceful change of power through elections in various provinces, then it would have contributed enormously to consolidating democracy.

Zille said the DA would put forward its views on various relevant issues at the convention, but “our aim is not to deliberate until we have reached consensus with the other participants. Our aim is to state our position”.

“We will participate in the discussions and we will state our views. We will not necessarily commit the DA to any resolutions or declarations, unless they restate mandated DA positions.”

Key issues to be debated included the supremacy of the Constitution, equality before the law, electoral reform, socio-economic rights and poverty alleviation, and party funding and combating corruption, she said.

Lekota and Shilowa had assured her that the convention itself would not be used as a platform to launch a new political party and it was on this basis the DA had agreed to attend.

The DA would be there to discuss the key issues facing the country’s future, and what other participants decided to do after the convention was up to them.

The DA’s attendance was not an endorsement of any other political formation, Zille said. – Sapa

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20081031134542641C398711