The Constitutional right to freedom of expression is currently under assault by the ANC. Two incidents attest to this, and both, interestingly, concern the President: first, the action of President Zuma's protection services, who brutalised a jogger accused of "showing disrespect" toward the President; second, the recent action of the Deputy Speaker, who ruled that a member, by expressing the opinion that the President was taking the country toward lawlessness, had in fact made an allegation (as opposed to simply putting forward his personal view) and had to withdraw his comment. The DA walked out of Parliament in response.

The right to freedom of expression is one of the cornerstones on which any democratic society is built. It is a right built on two principles: freedom and tolerance. On the one hand, it guarantees people the space and opportunity to put forward those opinions in which they believe. The constitution puts no constraints on this, other than when something is said with the purpose of propagating war or inciting violence to another person. On the other hand, it requires society to be tolerant; for, in not prescribing how people may use the opportunity to express themselves, it inevitably creates space for contestation and the proliferating of competing ideas. This is a good thing, because even while some ideas may be reprehensible, it is only by identifying them for what they are that they can be properly contested.

The ANC has contempt for both of these values: it routinely uses its political platforms to incite violence (the DA is currently before the Equality Court, arguing that the Free State ANC Youth League is in violation of this principle, for calling on Jonathan Jansen to be shot and killed) and it repeatedly demonstrates intense intolerance for anything critical of itself and its leaders.

As President Zuma's reputation is under systematic attack, because he is failing to provide the appropriate leadership or vision necessary to sustain his credibility as a leader, the ANC is doubly defensive. Its rhetoric has become violent and its intolerance has transformed to physical harm (certainly in the case of the innocent jogger who was manhandled). It is an indictment of the ruling party and its appreciation and understanding of the democratic values that underpin our democracy.

The governing party is under no obligation to agree with criticism of the President, but it cannot - and under no circumstances should it ever be allowed to - use its own sensitivities to warp the freedoms we all fought so hard to attain.