LETTER: Forget about secession
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An argument one hears quite frequently these days is that the Western Cape has the right to set itself up as an independent country (and that all it would need to do would be to win a local referendum and obtain recognition from the international community).
This is a load of simplistic codswallop: if a relatively poor country built a nuclear power station and/or a huge hydroelectric dam in a particular region it clearly would have the right to prevent the region from breaking away, as this could undermine the stability and wellbeing of the rest of the country.
Simply put, no right is an absolute: rights have to be balanced against each other, which is why our courts recently refused to rule in favour of a minister who was fired by her church after marrying her lesbian/same-sex lover (even the right to life is not absolute: in SA the death penalty has been declared unconstitutional because the Constitutional Court believes it constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment).
Besides, secession is a measure that should not be contemplated lightly: in Yugoslavia the secession of Croatia led Croatia’s Serbian community to clamour for the right to govern themselves. Later, Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to do the same, which led to a brutal conflict in which 140,000 people were killed.
Terence Grant
Cape Town
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This is a load of simplistic codswallop: if a relatively poor country built a nuclear power station and/or a huge hydroelectric dam in a particular region it clearly would have the right to prevent the region from breaking away, as this could undermine the stability and wellbeing of the rest of the country.
Simply put, no right is an absolute: rights have to be balanced against each other, which is why our courts recently refused to rule in favour of a minister who was fired by her church after marrying her lesbian/same-sex lover (even the right to life is not absolute: in SA the death penalty has been declared unconstitutional because the Constitutional Court believes it constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment).
Besides, secession is a measure that should not be contemplated lightly: in Yugoslavia the secession of Croatia led Croatia’s Serbian community to clamour for the right to govern themselves. Later, Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to do the same, which led to a brutal conflict in which 140,000 people were killed.
Terence Grant
Cape Town
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
