Since the first working draft of the Constitution was distributed in November last year, submissions have been pouring in to the Constitutional Assembly offering more proposals for the negotiators to work with, some of which have been ignored. These are the suggestions that have not made it into the Bill of Rights:
1) Freedom of the individual from prohibitive taxes
2) A clause to protect the aged
3) Students’ rights to organise other students
4) The right to play sport
5) The right to leisure, rest and holidays
6) The right to own firearms and the right to self-defence. (The Constitutional Assembly received 14 410 submissions calling for the right to own firearms to be protected by the constitution.)
7) The protection of the rights of Rastafarians
8) The protection of animal rights
9) The right to breastfeed
NGOs continue to complain that the Constitutional Assembly has appealed for input from the public, but is not prepared to engage in public dialogue on what has been submitted.