Submissions to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development and the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security
Introduction
| It is a great honour for us to host
the last of the Helen Suzman Foundation's Quarterly Roundtable Series
for 2007. We're doing it at a rather opportune time, a few days before
the kick-off, no pun intended, of the Polokwane Conference. We’ve asked some of the best and brightest analytical minds in our contemporary political environment to join us in a discussion on “The Final Stretch”. We literally are in the final stretch, and there are very interesting events emerging. We have Winnie Madikizela Mandela trying to broker agreements between the Mbeki and Zuma camps. We have various interesting issues emerging in the Free State with respect to delegates who may or may not be voting, and that may stretch to other provinces. We have equally fascinating developments with reference to the ANC Women's League, and the possibility of the parity principle being adopted in Polokwane. All these factors could have a bearing on the events that will unfold in the next few days. As a nation we're obviously in rapt attention to see what the outcome of this process will be. This decision will have an impact on all of our lives. I'd like to welcome everybody on our panel here today, starting with a former parliamentary colleague, and friend in that regard, and certainly an analytical mind in Parliament I greatly respect: General Bantu Holomisa, who needs very little introduction. He is the leader of the UDM [United Democratic Movement] in Parliament and also a former member of the ANC, and therefore has some interesting insights to offer us in that regard. Zwelethu Jolobe is a lecturer in Comparative Politics at the University of Cape Town, and many of you will have noticed Zwelethu in the commentary and political analysis leading into Polokwane. Prof Steven Friedman is a visiting research associate at IDASA [Institute for Democracy in South Africa] and also at Rhodes University, and he is certainly, again, one of the most respected analysts on this topic. |
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In particular, he has written
extensively about the issues relating to the democratic principles that
are being established en route to Polokwane, and not only about the
popularity contest in terms of who may emerge as the leader. Aubrey
Matshiqi has had various incarnations and roles both within both party
structures and government, and civil society. He was a strategy
consultant in the Cabinet unit of the Premier in Gauteng, and is now an
analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies. Xolela Mangcu started the
Platform for Public Deliberation at Wits University, which has played a
very important role in catalysing issues of discussion around
succession this year, and we're very pleased that Xolela could join
us.
Without any further ado, I'll hand over to my panellists.
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