ANC TODAY VOICE OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 22–27 May 2020 Conversations with the President THE WAR AGAINST COVID-19 OUR FOREMOST PRIORITY REMAINS TO SAVE LIVES E OFTEN TAKE our action about issues they feel most One of the triumphs of our democ- healthy and robust de- strongly about, such as health care, racy is that every South African be- mocracy for granted. education, freedom of speech and lieves the Constitution protects them Yet it is probably our corruption. and that the courts are a fair and im- Wgreatest asset in our momentous partial arbiter of their interests. struggle to overcome the coronavi- The poll confirms much that we al- rus pandemic. ready know about ourselves. We I got thinking on these matters enjoy nothing more than robust en- during a recent visit to the Eastern We have among the most political- gagement with our government and Cape to assess the province’s coro- ly-engaged citizenry in the world. A among ourselves on the burning is- navirus state of readiness. poll in 2018 by the Pew Research sues of the day. We have an active Center shows South Africans are civil society ever ready to safeguard I was asked by a journalist whether I strongly inclined to take political our fundamental freedoms and rights. was concerned at the pending litiga- FREEDOM AND Dear Mr President A POLITICAL EQUALITY – THE 4 COVID-19: 7 PERSPECTIVE BIRTHMARK OF CHILDREN ARE THE ON COVID-19 A BETTER FUTURE FUTURE OF AFRICA 9 2 ANC Today MAY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRESIDENT Africa Month President Ramaphosa addresses members of the Eastern Cape Provincial Command Council tion challenging certain provisions We have checks and balances in of the Disaster Management Act. Our foremost priority place to ensure that every aspect This law is the basis for all the reg- remains to save lives. of governance is able to withstand ulations promulgated under the na- constitutional scrutiny. Where we tional state of disaster we declared Our every decision are found wanting, we will be held to combat coronavirus. to account by our courts and, above is informed by the need all, by our citizens. Besides our Since the start of this crisis, a num- courts, our Chapter 9 institutions ber of people have exercised their to advance the exist to advance the rights of citi- right to approach the courts. The zens, as do the bodies tasked with lockdown regulations were chal- rights to life and oversight over the law enforcement lenged in the very first week of the agencies. ‘ lockdown by a private citizen from dignity as‘ set out Mpumalanga who wanted an ex- As I told the journalist, every South emption from the travel prohibition in our Constitution. African has a right to approach the to attend a funeral. courts and even I, as President, could never stand in the way of any- In the 7 weeks that have followed, body exercising that right. there have been legal challeng- cations following engagement with es from a number of individuals, There has been, and will continue government. religious bodies, political parties, to be, robust and strident critique of a number of aspects of our na- NGOs and from business organisa- While we would prefer to avoid the tional response to coronavirus, from tions against one measure or more need for any legal action against the data modelling and projections, of the lockdown provisions they government, we should accept that to the economic effects of the lock- were unhappy with. Some have suc- citizens who are unhappy with what- down, to the regulations. As gov- ceeded in their legal challenges and ever action that government has de- ernment, we have neither called for some have not. Some, who had ap- cided on implementing have a right such critique to be tempered or for it proached the courts on the basis of to approach our courts for any form to be silenced. the urgency of their cases, had their of relief they seek. This is a normal urgency arguments dismissed and tenet of a constitutional democracy To the contrary, criticism, where it is others have found other avenues for and a perfectly acceptable practice constructive, helps us to adapt and the relief they sought. Others have in a country founded on the rule of to move with agility in response to subsequently withdrawn their appli- law. changing circumstances and condi- 3 ANC Today MAY CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRESIDENT Africa Month tions. It enriches public debate and virus, there is still a long way to go. we recognise that the decisions tak- gives us all a broader understanding The weeks and months ahead will en by government are made in good of the issues at play. be difficult and will demand much faith and are meant to advance, and more from our people. not to harm, the interests of South We have consistently maintained Africans. that we rely on scientific, economic The pandemic will therefore con- and empirical data when it comes to tinue to place an enormous strain Our foremost priority remains to making decisions and formulating on our society and our institutions. save lives. Our every decision is in- regulations around our coronavirus Even as we gradually open up the formed by the need to advance the response. To the greatest extent economy, the impact on people’s rights to life and dignity as set out in possible under these challenging material conditions will be severe. our Constitution. For as long as this is the case, the circumstances, we aim for consulta- We will continue to welcome differ- tion and engagement. We want all potential for conflict, discord and dissatisfaction will remain. ent – even dissenting – viewpoints South Africans to be part of this na- around our national coronavirus tional effort. The voices of ordinary As we navigate these turbulent wa- response. All viewpoints aid us and citizens must continue to be heard ters, our Constitution is our most im- help us to work better and smarter. at a time as critical as this. portant guide and our most valued protection. Our robust democracy The exercise of the fundamental The coronavirus pandemic and the provides the strength and the re- freedoms of expression, association measures we have taken to com- silience we need to overcome this and speech is a barometer of the bat it have taken a heavy toll on our deep crisis. good health of our democracy. But people. It has caused huge disrup- much more than that, these rights tion and hardship. Although we can Just as government appreciates that are essential to the success of our point to the progress we have made most court applicants are motivated national and collective struggle to in delaying the transmission of the by the common good, so too should overcome the coronavirus. 4 ANC Today MAY THE WAR AGAINST COVID-19 Africa Month FREEDOM AND EQUALITY – THE BIRTHMARK OF A BETTER FUTURE EXCERPTS FROM A POLITICAL LECTURE BY ANC SECRETARY GENERAL ELIAS ACE MAGASHULE TO THE LEADERSHIP OF THE ANC YOUTH LEAGUE TSHWANE REGION ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOLIDARITY AND INTERNATIONALISM AND THE ROLE OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION IN OUR STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM 15 May 2020 ART OF THE strategy and tactics of our national liber- ation movement, the ANC, is to analyse the balance of Pforces at the turn of each and every historical period, and to determine how they influence the pace and di- rection of our struggle for the eman- cipation of our people. The ANC has always understood our struggle to be part of the wider struggle by our peo- ple to make the world a better place to live in. Today we use the opportunity of this platform to share ideas about the significance of human solidarity and internationalism and the role of the Cuban revolution in the history of our struggle against imperialism and colo- nialism. We do so because the ques- tionalism is of profound importance in hilated nearly half the population of tion of human solidarity and interna- the current realities of the dominant the human race. tionalism is more than ever becoming world of imperialism and neo-colo- nialism. This question is about the The deteriorating socio-economic important in the current trajectory of conditions caused by the First World our struggle, as we work towards the future of the overwhelming majority of the suffering people of the world, War became the breeding ground for building of a just and a peaceful world the spread of the pandemic. This was order. it is about their common aspirations, their being, their history, present and mainly as a result of the upheavals The reality is that if the progressive future. and mass movements of people from world of the community of nations is one place to the other, overcrowding not together, the weak shall be swal- A century ago, just as the people of in the war camps and prisons, over- lowed by the strength of the powerful. the world were celebrating the end of crowding in hospitals, malnutrition and Therefore, solidarity and internation- the First World War, which culminated other related diseases which weak- alism must be an essential quality of in the signing of the peace treaty of ened immune systems amongst the each and every progressive nation of Versailles in 1919, our mother earth millions of people, and by thousands the world and all revolutionaries. was visited by a catastrophic pan- and thousands of soldiers returning to demic called the Spanish Flu - one of their respective countries, carrying the The question of solidarity and interna- the deadliest pandemics which anni- disease at the end of the war.