Durban - The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said on Tuesday it supported a call by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) and Corruption Watch urging political parties to review their candidate lists.
"We concur that in the final consideration of their lists, political parties should remove compromised individuals from candidature for elected political office. We also support the demand that the relevant legislation be amended so as to raise the bar on acceptable candidature for political office," said the foundation via an emailed statement.
The foundation said that in the 2016 Constitutional Court ruling on the Nkandla issue, chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng described the duty of public representatives to abide by the rule of law and embody the values of the Constitution.
In that ruling, Mogoeng said: “One of the crucial elements of our constitutional vision is to make a decisive break from the unchecked abuse of State power and resources that was virtually institutionalised during the apartheid era.
"To achieve this goal, we adopted accountability, the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution as values of our constitutional democracy. For this reason, public office-bearers ignore their constitutional obligations at their peril. This is so because constitutionalism, accountability and the rule of law constitute the sharp and mighty sword that stands ready to chop the ugly head of impunity off its stiffened neck.”
The foundation said that protecting South Africa's democracy and dismantling state capture would require having public representatives who held an "impeccable ethical record and high moral standing in accordance with the values of the Constitution, something which political parties must ensure by critically reviewing their candidature lists".